Elements of Norrisville: The Beginning and the End
by Liliana Dragonshard
Summary: What no ones knows, the Ninja was once part of a team called the Elementals, who mysteriously vanished after the Sorcerer's imprisonment. A new kid at Norrisville High will set off a chain reaction that'll end with the Elementals group reformed and the Sorcerer released; can the six drastically different teens learn how to work together to save not only Norrisville, but the World?
1. The Sorcerer's Defeat

**Disclaimer: I don't own 'Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja, and this disclaimer will count for the whole story.**

**Author's Notes: PLEASE READ**

**Okay, so, just to get this out of the way, its a bit of an AU world, where there are six main elements in the world that oppose the Sorcerer's evil green magics. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and two more that shall remain secret for now. Things go on like how they do in the show, with the exception that the Nomicon reveals that a new ally or two that Randy had to find.**

**There are new characters, characters in the show that are given a new purpose/direction, and a horde of new creatures/spirits that cause either chaos or help combat it. Well, here we go! :-)**

**P.S.**

**Oh, and for those who haven't seen "**How To Train Your Dragon 2**", here's a quick reference pic I dug up to help with the appearance of one of the creatures/spirits, since its design is based on a certain dragon. Just connect the stuff together where there are spaces and you're all good. :-)**

** how to train your dragon .wikia wiki /File :Dragon 2_ cg_ cloud jumper_ 01_zp s2 93 65 65 7.p ng**

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**Prologue:** The Sorcerers Defeat

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The Ninja had battled the Sorcerer for nearly a year, and, with the aid of an Earthen Samurai, a Warrior of Water, a Guardian of Light, a Magician of Darkness, and, surprisingly, a Cowboy of Air, they had created a giant pit, sealed with all of their magics. The Ninja's Element was of Fire, you see, and his Elemental animal/spirit partner, the Tengu, was the last seal on the Sorcerers future prison.

After the Tengu closed the top off, the others magical shields would kick in and render the sorcerer trapped; forever, they could only hope. Each of their families had been touched by the Sorcerer's dark magics, you see, making this hope all the more powerful for them.

The Ninja's entire family had been killed whilst trying to defeat the Sorcerer.

The Warrior had grown up alone and unloved after her family rejected her for being different, the Sorcerer afterwards turning her into a monster, using her as his ride for three long years before she was freed by the Ninja and Samurai.

The Samurai's whole village had gone up in flames, a fire caused by the Sorcerer, when he was just a young man; he had been unable to save a single life but his own.

The Guardian had been trapped in a hundred-year sleep because of the Sorcerer, awakened only by the Magician and Warriors' efforts fifty years later.

The Cowboy had been eternally cut off from his mothers people, who were winged and of the sky, because of a spell cast by the Sorcerer, while he wandered the earth below, outliving any other human being, his father, a regular human, passing away twenty years before.

And the Magician's whole family had been altered by the Sorcerer's magic, giving them the amazing, or dangerous, ability to, instead of being taken over by the fowl green magic, to be able to harness and control it; to change it into something else entirely than it was before; a new magic. From Chaos to the ability to control the Darkness and Shadows.  
Most of the family had been targeted and killed within the year afterwards, for the first of the family to agree to such an evil deal had done unspeakable things with that power. Only one of the family survived, the Magician, who had sworn to use his powers for good and never evil.

They had all thrown in every last bit of their determination, skills and abilities into making sure the Sorcerer would never again hurt another soul, dead or living. And it had all come down to the final battle. They all fought bravely, using each of their abilities to the max, working perfectly in sync with one another, anticipating eachothers moves and thoughts before they happened.

Little by little, they directed the fight right above the pit; the Samurai had covered it with a thin layer of dirt to hide it, and the Cowboy with the Guardian made sure that no air or light would flow in or out of any cracks, ensuring that the Sorcerer would be unable to detect it.

Leaping, dodging, and attacking, they drove him directly over the pit, their Elemental spirit/animals lying in wait, ready to activate the plan. The Spirit of Shadows went first.

She could be compared to a Stormcutter, except a few key differences. Its scales were a murky dark blue, the crests, head fins and tail fins dark purple. This same purple swirled across its claws and wings, which it had four of, one pair under the first, and was only a little bigger than a Great Dane; at the moment.

The dark, slightly-less-murky purple swirled randomly, into incomprehensible shapes and lines, but never any one thing was the same twice in a row unless the dragon-creature willed it so. As it lifted its wings to fly, they caught the light, but she cast no shadow; for she was a shadow herself, in essence.

This was the Darrmask, controller of the shadows and night. She lunged, growing to her full height, which was about 47-48 feet high. She rammed into the Sorcerers shadow, knocking him in the direct center of the pit. For, a person is tied to their shadow, and the Darrmask can attack your shadow as if it were you.

Next, the Kelpient; she looked like a dark gray horse with slitted brown eyes, a large, dark navy-blue mermaid-like tail instead of a normal tail, and the same scales crawling up her legs and chest and neck, over her cheeks, fin-like ears and three long claws extending from normal hooves and sharp teeth, wet, slimy grey mane shining and glistening.

She snuck up and pounced on top of the Sorcerer, using a slimier, sludgier water than the normal kind she used to restrict his mobility and slow him down. She whinnied, screeched, or roared; some combination of the three.

Next was the Badgerbear. He was taller than a regular grizzly bear, standing at about 12 feet high when on his hind legs. A large black band went over brown fur, running from tail to over his ears. A smaller, thin white band ran from nose to tail, and similar black-and-white patterns ran down his legs, his muzzle with a little longer and filled with sharp teeth, and long, strong claws meant for digging and tearing.

He caused a small earthquake around the Sorcerer, sending him to his knees, the pit beginning to open up underneath him.

The Sorcerers eyes widened with realization. **_"_****NOOO!?****_"_** he shouted, struggling to raise his hands and attack. The Six Human Defenders and three of the Six Spirit Protectors watched from the edges of the pit as the Darrmask grabbed the Kelpient in her hind claws, moving swiftly to the sides of the pit while the Spirit of Air flew quickly over the pit, flapping strongly, the air currents keeping the Sorcerer in place.

The Spirit of air was a Pegasus, with a pale grey-white hide, a silvery mane and tail and large, starkly white, feathered wings. She whinnied loud and clear, telling the others that now was the time.

The Sorcerer fell down into the pit, landing on the chunk of rock that rose up, golden chains locking around his wrists. He yanked on them, shouting with panic, before turning his white eyes skyward, roaring in rage, directing his anger on the first one he saw, _**"**__**NNNNIIINNNJJJAAAAAA!?**__**"**_ He gathered up great amounts of red and green magic in his hands before hurling it skyward.

The Badgerbear and Samurai quickly lifted a large boulder, throwing it down on top of the hole; but it was to late. The green and red magic had already seeped out, and was attacking its chosen targets; the Defending Six. It consumed and attacked them, trying to kill them, they assumed.

The Magician struggled under its hold, unable to convert the red magic into something gentler, or bend it to his will. He'd leapt in the way, thinking that, as was usual, he could change the evil magic into something he could control; he was wrong.

He gasped, falling to his knees, and where he once stood was now a dark, murky blue book with dark, murky purple rings, a glowing, navy blue top hat in its center. The Darrmask roared with pain, dissolving into dark blue-black wisps, which rushed to an onyx stone set in dark pewter metal; a necklace. The stone glowed briefly as the wisps entered it. A dark purple scarf that had shadowy, strange markings of dark blue lay coiled next to the first two.

The Ninja and Guardian, their part of the tasks not yet done, gaped as they rode their Elemental spirit creatures, who dodged and weaved to keep the magic from catching up to their masters.

One by one, the others were reduced to small tomes that held their colors, a small stone within which their partner disappeared into, and the piece of their armor/suits that activated the rest of the magic of it.

The Samurai became a dark, earthy brown book with jade green rings and a glowing, pale yellow samurai helmet helmet, the Badgerbear going into a rough piece of jade, and a dark brown, thin length of fabric, like a blindfold or headband, fluttered limply on top, solid, thick lines of pastel jade appearing here and there.

The Cowboy became a pale grey-white volume with silvery rings and a glowing red cowboy hat in the center, a see-through, roughly star shaped piece of quarts becoming the Pegasus's new resting place and a pale grey-white bandanna with silvery tendrils and curlicues all over it.

"We need to seal this thing off, now!" the Guardian shouted, even as the Warrior was reduced to a dark, pastel grey book with navy blue rings and a glowing, purple ninja mask in the center. The Kelpient went into a small, grey river stone that had cracks of white and spots of black, that was wrapped in a leather thong. A dark, pastel grey mask with navy blue markings fell beside it.

The Ninja nodded. "Yes, hurry, before we share the same fate." he shouted back. The boulder was already in place. Swinging wide of eachother, they swiveled back around. The Ninja dived, slamming the amber-golden stone of the Tengu into the top of the boulder, then bounded away to try and escape the red and green magic. The Guardian chanted, his spirit creature beginning to glow.

The Spirit of Light was a giant, marshmallow-white bat, close in shape to a flying fox bat, with pale yellow ears, claws, muzzle, and wings. He was about twice as big as a horse, and dived for the Tengu stone, slam into it, spirit dispersing into energy as it sealed the edges of the prison, followed closely behind by the Tengu, who slammed into the amber stone, flattening the boulder and creating a huge pattern of a carp in the ground.

The Guardian cried out in pain as the evil magic wrapped around him, rendering him into a white book with pale yellow rings, a silver ninja mask in the center. The moon was beginning to rise on the horizon. With a pained shriek, the Moon-bat temporarily reformed before turning into white-yellow wisps, rushing higher and higher into the sky, merging with the moon. A white ninja mask with pale yellow markings lay next to the book.

The Ninja chanted out a quick spell, that would protect him, for a time, from the evil magic. He gathered up all of the books, stones, and suit pieces before hurrying home. He had to figure out what happened, he'd never seen of heard of the Sorcerer doing something like this. He carefully set the books on the bed, beginning to write down all that had happened at his desk.

He could the foul, green and red magic start to cling to him, like a large, thick cobweb, constricting him. He fell to his knees with a gasp, having difficulty breathing. He felt like he was being crushed, squashed into a tiny little space. He struggled and fought against it, trying to get out of it; but it was no use. He lost himself to the darkness.  
A black book with red rings and a bright, glowing green ninja mask in the center and his red and black ninja mask were all that was left of the brave fighter.

Who would protect the unnamed town now?

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**And that would be the very beginning. As said before, this is a bit of an AU. . . . or, a lot of an AU, I haven't figured it out yet. THere's a lot of canon and headcanon mixed in here, besides my own creativity.**

**And here's a little shoutout to a friend of mine, **Endeaver4ever, **who really helped to inspire me and I honestly believe that this story wouldn't have come out the way it is if not for her. Go check out her stories, their honking brilliant.**

**Enjoy and please review!**


	2. Nearly 800 Years Later

**Hello again! I would just like to, firstly, thank everyone who has reviewed so far!**

Elcall:** Thanks so much for reviewing! I believe you'll like what you find on here.**

Endeavor4ever: **Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how its going to end either, lol. Just kidding, I have a rough idea. But I'm still working on the** **finer details, so to speak.**

Nomi Norisu:** Don't worry, more chapters are coming soon. :-)**

Guest:** Thanks :-)**

Kitt Rider:** Um . . . sorry, I had to translate it online, but thanks for the thumbs up! :-)**

**Now, on with the show! :-D**

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**Chapter 1:** Nearly 800 years later

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Jenna looked up Norrisville High School, feeling the inside of her coat pocket, reassured by the feeling of the silky cloth.

She was wearing her usual attire. Dark brown jeans, pale green T-shirt covered by a dark green, brown, and tan camo hoodie, camo leather boots, and neon orange backpack full of school supplies. Her light brown, chin length hair was cut in a slightly messy style, her bangs long enough to cover her bright violet eyes and most of her face.

She took a deep breath before stepping up to the building, re-shouldering her neon orange backpack.

Inside that same building, two students discussed a project that was going to begin in science class later in the day.

"I can't believe Mrs. Driscoll is letting us mix together chemicals today!" exclaimed Randy, the taller of the two.

"I know right? It's gonna be so bruce. Do you think we can get something to explode?" The shorter one, Howard, had been looking forward to this since she had announced it in class yesterday.

"We sure can try. Do you think she'll let us choose our own partners for this?" asked Randy.

Jenna easily slid past the other students. A few girls looked at her and giggled to themselves, talking among themselves. Jenna was a tomboy at heart, and merely rolled her eyes. Two boys were standing around her locker, one tall, skinny, and purple haired, the other short, chubby, and orange haired. She ignored to their chatter as she fiddled with the combination lock.

It was being very stubborn.

Randy and Howard took no notice of the new girl who was at the previously vacant locker next to theirs. There were so many people at Norrisville high and they didn't really bother to try and know everyone.

"What if the explosion, like, set the classroom on fire?" Randy had a mischievous grin on his face.

"And then we have to evacuate and school's cancelled for the rest of the day? I like the way you think Cunningham," said Howard as he nodded thoughtfully. Randy was about to reply, but the girl next to them suddenly kicked her locker.

"Stupid! Freaking! Hunk!" She whisper-yelled, kicking it again before looking at the combo for the what felt like the millionth time. She glanced the boy's way, thinking over their words.

"Your plan is stupid and could hurt a lot of people; don't do it." She said simply, and, after finally opening her locker, tossed in her books.

Randy spluttered. "We weren't actually going to do it!"

"Aw man, really? I thought you were serious. Not even a little fire?" Howard pouted. Randy sighed and took another look at the girl. Though he could care less about everybody's business, he knew he had never seen her around before.

"Are you new here?"

"You _were_ serious; I could hear it in your voice. And yes, I'm a transfer from a town over." She replied, glancing at a dark grey, navy blue ringed book, a lavender ninja mask symbol in its center. It was tucked into her orange pack with a few notebooks, a binder, and some other stuff.

She zipped it up, and felt in her pocket for the silky cloth article, feeling a little more reassured yet at the same time a bit wary.

"Whatever," Howard said irritably, "So... if you're from a town over, have you heard about the Ninja of Norrisville high?"

The two teenage boys gave each other a knowing look and waited for her answer.

"Nope," She replied, just a little _too_ quickly. She felt the fabric in her pocket and shouldered her pack.

"My name's Jennafern. What's yours?" Her backpack glowed navy blue twice, from something on the inside.

"I'm Randy, Randy Cunningham. And this is my partner in crime Howard," As he said this Randy put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Nice to meet you," Howard said in a way that suggested the opposite. "You seriously haven't heard of the ninja? I also suppose you don't know about what the Ninja protects us from? Well then, you're gonna be in for a big surprise."

Jenna gave a tiny wave. "Nice to meet you. I thought someone else protected the school, so," she shrugged, a nervous smile on her face. "My bad."

"Someone else? Who else would-" Howard began angrily, but Randy, sensing she was uncomfortable, possibly because of his friend's brash manner, decided to change the subject.

"So what's your first class?"

"Eh, English, I think, not sure. I give most things different labels than most people. One of the joys of being me." The last line she said sarcastically, ignoring when her backpack pulsed navy blue again.

"No honking way!" Randy said with genuine surprise. Howard, noting her sarcasm, immediately disliked her. Sarcasm was his gig.

"Oh joy, you have a locker next to us, you have the same first class. What's next? The same second hour?" Howard paused. "Please tell me science is not your second class."

"...yes?" She replied uncertainly, taken back slightly by his response.

"Howard, be nice. Jenna, right? Don't mind him, he woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." The bell rings and the students shuffle off to their classes. "Well, do you know where Mr. Bannister's class is?" Randy offers graciously. Howard folds his arms grumpily.

"Nope. I'll just follow you guys. Never been here before. And I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers, H-man. Can you tell me what attacks the school?" She asks curiously, following after them.

Howard, suddenly feeling that he had the upper hand because he knew something she didn't, perked up.

"Oh you know, robots, possessed students that turn into monsters... that kind of thing." They were now at English class and taking their seats. Mr. Bannister motioned for Jenna to come to the front of the class.

Jenna rolled her eyes and walked up, pulling down her hood.

The teacher waits until the bell signals that the five minutes to get to class is over to introduce the new student.

"Take your seats... I'd like to announce that we have a new student. Her name is Jennafern Joans, I expect for you to make her feel welcome." There was a spattering of applause. "There is an empty seat behind those two there," he vaguely pointed at Randy and Howard.

"Thanks, Teach. Now my covers been blown." There was a light spattering of sarcasm about her words as she walked to her seat, slumping low and pulling up her hood.

The teacher furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know if that's acceptable where you're from, Miss Jennafern, but there will be no such disrespect here. If that happens once more, you'll owe me an essay on the meaning of 'respect' and how it applies in school." Mr. Bannister sat down at his desk to take attendance.

"Word from the wise," Howard had turned around in his seat to face Jenna, "Don't get on his bad side. He loves grading essays."

"Got it, H-man. You said earlier that kids get possessed. Is it random, or does something happen that _makes_ them turn into monsters?" She asked, pulling out a small blue notebook and a pencil.

On the page she turned to were sketches and scribbled patches of words, some underlined or outlined with gold or silver or red sharpie.

Howard opened his mouth to answer, but Randy, remembering what had happened with Julian earlier in the year, interjected.

"Oh, you know... there's rumors... like wearing your underpants five days straight or eating the caf's meatloaf," Randy glanced at the teacher, who was still busy with stuff at his desk. "I guess you'd have to ask the Ninja himself for the answer." Randy said quietly, subconsciously touching the satchel at his feet.

Howard seemed to find this funny and laughed. "It's definitely the meat loaf," he said, playing along.

"Hey what'cha got there?" Randy asked, leaning closer to her notebook.

She covered it with her hand. "My Secrets Journal. I like to learn more than what's in the classroom." She gave Randy a bit of a look. "And it isn't clothes or food, is it? That makes you a monster? It's something else. And I'm gonna find out." She said seriously. Jenna had a sneaking suspicion . . . well, she had that sort of feeling about a lot of things, but something just plain-out didn't feel right.

"Aw, you have a private diary? How cute," Howard smirked.

Randy on the other hand was more nervous. "Well, um, good luck with that." He suddenly tensed. Something was wrong. He couldn't place it, but after being the Ninja for a couple of months he had a sixth sense about these things. Mr. Bannister called for the class's attention and began to go over last night's Romeo and Juliet homework.

"It's a journal of secrets, but not my own. Peoples behaviors, quirks, secret locations. And I _will_ figure out how monsters happen." She replied seriously, then seemed to mellow a tad.

"Sorry for the seriousness, everybody hated me at my old school. Liked to try and beat me up." She said quietly and lightly, as if it wasn't a big deal and it didn't bother her at all.

"It's all right, so you're a little curious, that's all," Randy shrugged. "But honestly there aren't many secrets around here. And if you're worried about being bullied, you could . . . hang with us. If you want, I mean." Randy knew he was taking a risk, letting her get close to them, but he couldn't help it. Protecting people was in his nature and if she thought people might hurt her. . .

"Cunningham, can I talk to you for a second?" The two began to angrily whisper.

"People were jerks 'cause of my family. No one knows or will know here. Should be fine." She replied, interrupting their argument. "I'll hang with you guys, if that's all right, of course."

"We seem to have a lot of classes in common so we might as well hang together," Howard resigned. "Do you play Grave Punchers?"

"Nope. I prefer to explore than play video games." She replied, turning to a new page, scribbling 'H-man' and 'Randy' at the top, drawing little arrows and fist bumps around the names.

Oblivious to her drawings, Howard and Randy tried to convince Dave to let them copy off his paper. And that's when they heard it. Out in the hallway, there was screaming and the echoes of metallic foot falls.

Jenna shoved her stuff into her bag and shouldered it, fingering the dark grey and navy blue fabric in her pocket. "What was that?!" She demanded urgently.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that robots attack the school also?" Howard said nonchalantly as if it happened every day. Actually it happens at least once a week. Randy quickly raised his hand.

"Mr. B, I gotta use the bathroom!" The teacher rolled his eyes, but nodded. Randy snatched his bag and took a hall pass from the automatic McPass Master.

"Me too!" Jenna declared, running out the door and grabbing a hall pass on the way out. What she saw outside the classroom was unexpected, but cool.

"Whoa. . .a Robug." A giant, mechanical praying mantis.

There was a flash of red from the boy's bathroom a little ways down the hall, but in the confusion most people paid it no mind. The mantis's exterior was a dull gray with green rivets. Each leg made a chink sound when it hit the titled floor. It walked down the hall, making halfhearted attempt to grab whoever was in its way. Blazing green eyes finally stopping their search, it focused on Jenna.

Jenna looked around and finally ran straight towards it, diving under its reaching claws and skidding behind it. "Hey, Robug! Come and get me, you sissy!" She shouted, scrambling to her feet and running back the way it came.

'Have to lead it out. . .can't let it hurt anyone. . .' She thought, sprinting.

"Oh come on, even I could think of a better name than that. . .like-" The figure who had appeared in front of her was knocked away by the giant metal pincers before finishing his comeback.

Jenna stared at the Ninja, before turning to glare at the mantis. "Lay off before I get a bug swatter!" She roared in anger, grabbing a metal object and swinging at its incoming leg.

Turns out, she grabbed the Ninjas dropped sword. She cut the leg roughly in half.

The Ninja was slightly confused that she was helping, however Howard helped him sometimes. She had his sword so she should be pretty safe. . .not like he thought he needed help or anything. Grabbing his Ninja Sai, he joined the battle. "Ninja stab!" he announced, thrusting the three-pronged weapon in a joint on the robot.

Jenna ran around the robot to distract it, trying to figure out its weak point, deflecting stray limbs that tried to hit with her arms and the sword.

Throwing the red scarf, it looped around the robo-mantis's neck allowing Randy to swing onto its back. He hung on for his life as it thrashed, trying to throw him off.

"Student-who's-name-I-do-not-know! You might wanna get outta here before you get hurt!" Randy had retracted his original thought. Even though she was doing well, this robot was not the usual kind. Without a leg or two, it was still fighting and. . .Okay, it had nothing to do with her well-being. It's just that students were watching and he was jealous that she scored a hit before he did.

'That sounds like Randy!' She thought with some disbeleif, scrambling on top of a locker before lunging at its neck, grabbing onto its head with one arm and hand.

"You're a bigger idiot that I thought if you're going to take on this thing alone!" She replied, jamming the sword tip into one of its eyes. She hadn't been entirely sure why Randy would've dressed up to fight some giant thing; then thought back to why she did it. To defend the people.

"Oh yeah? I do this all the time, thank you very much!" Randy gained purchase on the metal surface, flipping into the air while simultaneously stabbing the other eye. "Ninja eye poke!" He landed gracefully on the ground and a flash of red came from his waistband, distracting him. "Right now Nomicon? I'm a little busy."

Jenna held onto its head as it thrashed, gritting her teeth when it scraped her leg. "Just kill it already!" She shouted, waving the sword around as she struggled to hold on or slash it.

"But you have my favorite monster killing weapon!" Randy complained. "Wait. . .I have just the thing for this. . .Ninja rings!" Multiple red and black rings flew through the air, narrowly missed Jenna, and embed themselves in a connection point in its neck. The action severed important wires that lead the control function in the robot's head and the mantis sank to the floor.

Jenna pushed off, tumbling to the floor from 7-8 feet up, standing and backing up quickly as the robot toppled over. She looked down at her bloody right leg.

"Well, that was interesting." Walking over to the Ninja, she offered the sword back. "You okay? Anything broken?" She asked gently, ignoring her fiery-hurting leg.

The Ninja accepted the sword, replacing it in the hammer space of the suit. "Am _I_ okay?" He waved his hands in the air. "You are bleeding for cheese's sake!" People never got hurt on his watch. He never even got hurt for the most part, the suit saved him from a lot of injury. "You need to go to the nurse's office!"

Jenna half flinched, half leaned away from his waving hands. "You got smacked pretty hard. Just trying to make sure you weren't hurt. It's what I do." She replied, not budging an inch. She always checked up on people, and she was still astounded on how he got out of that unscathed. He'd dented a locker, as in, it bent like a toothpick, and he was still uninjured.

Randy was near speechless; this is not how he pictured the morning going at all. "Um thanks. . .though I really should get you to the nurse. . ."

"May as well." She shrugged, turning to give the robot a solid kick with her left foot as they left.

"So, what's your name?" Randy figured he might as well ask it in case he slipped up and called her Jenna.

"Jenna. Yours? I'm new here." She replied, refusing to limp despite the pain it caused.

"Ha-ha, nice try but the Ninja has a secret identity to keep," he replied. He also noted that Jenna must be really tough to take on a McFist bot, get injured and not end up crying or something.

"Really? Never woulda guessed." She replied sarcastically, before glancing around for eavesdroppers.

There was no one in sight. She leaned conspiratorially. "Randy." She whispered, barely heard. She kept her expression neutral.

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**Oh my! She figured out his secret identity! Well, we'll have to see where this goes next chapter. Please review!**


	3. New Girl, New Rules

**Hello, I am back again! Time to thank all that reviewed. :-)**

Nomi Norisu**: The next chapter is here! Thanks, it is rather awesome. :-D**

FlyingDutchGirl**: Yeah, I added a bit of a twist. What do you mean when you say Jenna's "a spicy chick", 'cause I think I'm missing something show-wise.**

Elcall**: Its going to be explained before to long where she got the book and mask, there is a reason as to why she didn't use it, (which will be explained soon, as well) and I'm not sure what you're asking when you said, "**And also why you didn't tell us yet**?" end quote.**

**Eh, I feel kinda so-so about the title of this chapter. If anyone else has any better ideas, please tell me.**

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**Chapter 2:** New Girl, New Rules

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Randy stumbled backward as if pushed by an invisible force.

"How'd you?" He whispered. Not even his own best friend had guessed his identity. "I mean, what? I've never heard of this 'Randy' before. . ."

"I. . .I was only guessing, I could be wrong . . . _this time_." She replied, leaving a hidden meaning in her words besides uncertainty. She stepped into the nurse's office, only to step back out. "No one's in there." She stated.

Randy quick checked to make sure no one was about and nearly took off the mask, but Jenna stopped him, grabbing his arm. "What the heck are you doing?" she hissed at him, eyes narrowed, almost dangerously.

Randy pulled back, tugging his arm out of her surprising strong grasp. "You already know and for some strange reason, I trust you." he replied.

She shrugged noncommittally. "Just don't. Don't take off the mask, and I won't know." she told him sternly, crossing her arms and giving him a "I'm-not-letting-you-back-out-of-this" look.

He held up his hands. "Okay, okay, sheesh." he thought over her previous words. "And whad'ya mean no one is in there? You're bleeding! Ah. . .okay. We need to find Coach Green, he's the gym teacher, he should know first aid. . .or maybe I can do it?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "You shouldn't have to do it yourself; after all it's my fault."

"I have some stuff for this, I'll be fine." She replied, reaching into her backpack and taking out a roll of bandages. She sat down, pulling up the right pant leg of her jeans.

"So. . .you fight robots and stuff. Do you know why they attack the school?" She asked, wrapping up her leg. It was long, but not deep.

He shrugged. "I don't know exactly why, but they can be tough to beat. You're pretty hardcore, Jenna." he complimented.

"Eh, thanks. I feel like I've seen that thing somewhere before." She tied off the bandage and stood, picking up her pack.

"Seen what thing?" he asked. The school was eerily quiet, reminding him they both were supposed to be in class.

Jenna put a hand on her chin in thought. "The Robug . . . I feel like I've seen it somewhere before." she replied.

"I feel like that sometimes. It's called dejavu or something like that. Will you be able to get back to class by yourself? I mean, you _are_ hurt, after all . . ." he still felt guilty over that.

"I think I'll be fine. I'll just go hang out somewhere until second period." she replied.

"Well, if you say so. _SMOKEBOMB_!" he threw down a smokebomb and disappeared. Jenna coughed a little, waving the smoke out of her face as she backed up.

"Okay, those smell like farts." she coughed again, then started wandering down the halls.

Over the next week, hardly any students got stank'd, largely in part due to Jenna. Whenever she saw a bully like Bash, Stevens, or someone else, she'd intervene and help whoever was being picked on.

_On Monday . . . ._

Jenna was exploring the school during lunch, trying to find her way around when she saw Juggo, riding his unicycle on a tightrope while juggling. He dropped a pin, and Stevens sad-trombone'd him. Seeing how discouraged he was, Jenna marched right up and lightly shoved Stevens away.

"Hey, jerk, you must be pretty pathetic if you have to resort to bullying for entertainment, so back off and get lost." she said seriously, but without any spite, only honesty, in her words.

Stevens huffed and left, while Jenna turned to Juggo, who'd caught his other four pins by now and was watching her with total shock and amazement on his face. She picked up his fifth pin and offered it to him.

"Here. You're pretty good." Juggo hopped of the tightrope and his unicycle, putting the all the pins in his backpack.

"R-really? But Stevens-" he began, but she cut him off.

"Isn't in control of you or your sweet talents. I mean, your juggling, riding on a unicycle, _and_ balancing on a tightrope; and all at once, too. I can't even do one of those things without 'failing epicly'." she used air quotes and snickered, a small smile on her face at the thought, amused by her own 'joke'.

Juggo laughed a little, to, feeling better. "Thanks, I guess your right." he smiled back at her.

"You don't need his opinion to be good. So, you dropped one pin, not the end of the world! Just don't let his negativity affect you to much and keep on plowing through. You're really good at what you do already. React to the people who enjoy your talents rather than those that try to tear you down." she continued, giving another small smile.

Juggo smiled back and thanked her, going back to practice as Jenna merged with the few students nearby and went off to who knows where.

_Next, on Tuesday . . . ._

Bash and his gang was shoving around Accordion Dave in the halls before school when Jenna intervened. They were tossing his accordion over his head when she called, "Hey, let me take a shot!" she'd called, catching the accordion when they tossed it her way. Dave ran her way next, and she backpedaled, gaining a few more feet of space as she reached into her pocket for a pebble.

Taking it, she held it up. "Hey, idiots, catch!" and with that, she chucked it at Bash, bopping him in the nose. He cried out and held his nose, and while they were distracted, she took Dave's hand and dragged him out of there.

When they were a good distance away, she handed him his accordion back. "Here. They didn't damage it, did they?" she asked kindly.

Dave shook his head no. "Why did you a-help me? I thought you were going to join in on their fun."

Jenna shrugged. "Sometimes a little deception can help. And this time, it did; you got your thing back and they're not picking on you anymore." she replied with a small smile.

Dave was about to thank her when the bell rang for school to start; and, just like that, she was gone.

_And on Wednesday . . . ._

Nothing much happened on Wednesday, but a few people were talking about her, mostly Dave and Juggo by this point, but also a few others who had been helped by the new girl. Simple things like helping them carry their stuff, giving them advice, that sort of thing. No one really thought to approach her just to talk, or ask her to join them in any fun activities.

She approached other people and talked with them easily enough, so they all assumed that she was good at making friends and already had a lot. They were all wrong in that assumption. Jenna had no friends, but helped people just to help them; that's just how she liked to do it. True, she wanted a friend, but she wasn't sure how to get one.

_Then, on Thursday . . . ._

Jenna was on her way to the School Library to study when she saw a few seniors surrounding a freshman clad in purple, holding a purple top hat over his head; it was Julian. She watched for a moment, then calmly dropped her backpack and slid it into the wall, out of the way, before balling her hands into loose fists and walking over.

By this time, things had taken a turn for the worst. Julian had been shoved down, someone beginning to slowly step on his hat, the others threatening to start kicking him. Jenna walked up calmly and kicked the guy crushing the top hat in the groin. He squeaked in pain, falling to his knees. When the other two went for her, she calmly side stepped, punched one in the gut and and tripped the other so he flew into a locker.

When they tried to grab her, she merely ducked, skidded on her knees, then popped up swiftly and punched one on the jaw, kicked the other in the back, and slapped the third in the face, using her fingernails, which sent four pinkish-red lines across his cheek. They regrouped, huddling together, and she hissed like a cat, making as if to attack again, and they scurried away.

Julian, shocked and amazed by this, trembled when she approached him, flinching when she reached her hand out. She seemed to wince behind her bangs, instead retrieving and dusting off his hat, making sure it wasn't damaged before offering it back. Julian feared this to be a trick, as he'd encountered similar during middle school.

He stood shakily, trying to glare at her. "S-stay back! I-I know this is a trick!" he tried to shout bravely, but it came out shaky and a bit scared.

Jenna sighed and set his hat on the ground, retrieving her pack and heading for the Library once more. "If those jerks come after you again, let me know; I'll pound them for you." and with those words, she was gone. Julian retrieved his hat and thought over this new persons actions. She'd tried to help him, no, she _had_ helped him, and he turned her away. He'd have to apologize at the first chance he got.

_Lastly, on Friday . . . ._

Jenna walked outside after school to see Bash giving Bucky a wedgie. Gritting her teeth, she dropped her pack on the ground and marched right up to them. Grabbing one of Bucky's shoulders by the fabric of his marching uniform, she offered a quick, hard punch to the Bash's stomach. Her grip on Bucky's arm kept him upright and helped him land on his feet rather than his face when Bash dropped him.

He cowered behind her as Bash towered over them with an anger yell. "Hey, who the hecks are you?" he demanded hostilely. Other kids began to crowd around, astonished and curious about this freshman who dared to stand up to Bash. The laughable thing was, she was short, shorter than most freshman.

Jenna grounded herself, causally placing her feet and positioning her body in such a way that her side was facing him, rather than her chest. "I'm the guy who's gonna kick your butt if you keep trying to mess the students around here." a few of the other geeks and students sent up a small cheer, as well as Bucky, who'd already ducked away into the crowd.

Bash scowled down at her. "I'm gonna **CRUSH** you like a _thing_ that crushes . . . _other thing_s!" he shouted, taking a stomping step forward, but Jenna wasn't phased in the least.

"You're an idiot, you realize that, right?" she replied calmly, a hand raised to cover her mouth as she yawned. People gasped at her fearlessness. Didn't she know who Bash was? What he was capable of?! And who his stepfather was?!

Shouting in anger, Bash threw out a fist to hit her, only - he missed. Jenna had side stepped, using her other arm to block by first bringing her left fist up to her right shoulder before pulling it down to her upper left leg, effectively directing the bullies fist away from her torso. Everyone gasped again, then cheered.

Jenna dodged every single blow Bash threw at her, calm and not a bit tired when Bash finally paused, panting and bent over. She hadn't struck him once, but only tired out her opponent. The other students would've been on the edge of their seats, had they been sitting.

Jenna yawned, rolling her shoulders. "Sooo, do you wanna keep going or what? I kinda have somewhere to be." she informed him, acting as if to leave.

Bash stood upright again, towering over her, but was obviously still tired. "I'M BASH JOHNSON, WHICH MEANS I'M BETTER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE!" he shouted at her.

Jenna was completely unaffected. "You keep telling yourself that, and I'll be going home then." she turned and began to walk away. Everyone oo'ed as she stood up Bash.

Bash shouted in anger and charged her with the last of his strength, and, without even looking, she easily sidestepped and tripped him, sending him face first into the dirt. Walking away, she glanced back and paused for a moment.

"I highly suggest you leave me alone. Goodbye." she said simply, continuing on her way. Everyone who had been watching began to disperse, talking excitedly about how the fight went down.

Word of this fight reached the ears of Randy and Howard, who had just gotten out of detention. They asked a few different people and got a few accounts of what happened, some the truth, some exaggerated wildly. They were able to draw up a similar conclusion, however; this new kid was a bruce-tastic fighter!

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**Okay, well, so that just happened. I need some ideas for new robots to start attacking, however, so if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to send them in a review, as well as a new chapter name(I feel so-so about it) And, as always, enjoy and please review!**


	4. Jenna's Uncle, Defender's Past

**I am back! :-) Review answering time!**

Endeavor4ever**: Thanks so much! I thought it'd add a certain level of confusion over this new person. I'm kinda trying to explain her personality through actions and not words.**

Nomi Norisu**: As you can see, I have delivered. :-)**

Elcall**: Oh, don't worry, Jenna and Randy will be interacting plenty before to long. There is a huge web that requires untangling, and only six kids can do it.**

FlyingDutchGirl**: Well, that makes sense. No, she's not helping kids just so they won't get stank'd; she doesn't know about that angle just yet. However, she's going to learn pretty soon.  
**

**Okay, now we're going to see a little more of that book that was mentioned. Prepare for the funnies, the feels, and some mystery with a dash of confusion and a pinch of snarky/sage not-ten-year-old. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 3:** Jenna's Uncle, Defender's Past

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Randy and Howard were walking to his place, and Randy was thinking over how their had been no robot or monster attacks. "Howard, don't you think its weird? I mean, unless McFist and the Sorcerer decided to go on vacation, there's no other explanation for the lack of attacks."

Howard shrugged it off. "Chillax, Cunningham. I mean, you sound like you _want_ something to try and kill you." Howard replied sarcastically. "Relax! Now get ready to eat it on Grave Punchers!" he exclaimed.

Randy laughed a little, deciding he was right. "Yeah, I guess you're right." he agreed. He had a nagging feeling that it was something more than that, but pushed it to the back of his mind. It was the weekend, after all!

* * *

_Last Monday, _

_In the giant, Pyramid-like structure that was McFist industries . . . ._

McFist was yelling at Viceroy, which wasn't too unusual, after another failed robot attack.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS GOING TO WORK THIS TIME," boomed the short, but rich man named Hannibal McFist. "AND WHO IS THAT." He pointed at the screen that was replaying the footage the Mantis had recorded.

"And it would have if she hadn't intervened!" Viceroy replied, squinting at the girls face. "As for the tomboy, that would be my niece, Jenna. That girls either braver or crazier than a starving fox in a chicken coop." He replied.

"Eh? You never told me you have a niece," McFist calmed down a notch. "_WHYWASSHEHELPINGTHENINJA?_" The words blended into one; maybe he hadn't calmed down, after all.

"I don't know, but she probably doesn't even know who he is. From what my sister told me the girl always helps the kids in her school." He replied smoothly.

"And yes, I have a sister, before you ask. If it makes you feel better, I'll talk to my niece after school today to warn her off from fighting those things again. She listens to me, sometimes, if anybody else." Viceroy cut in, replaying the footage.

He was impressed with her skills, even though he couldn't say it. Sometimes, it felt like she was the only one who understood and appreciated his ingenious.

"Well you better keep an eye on her, Viceroy. Destroying the ninja is top priority and nothing will get in my way," McFist said threateningly. The footage cut in half; one of the eyes had been stabbed, and Jenna herself, if seemed. Then the video completely ended and looped back to the beginning. McFist scratched his mustache thoughtfully.

"Viceroy, do you think she could work for us?"

"I'm not sure. I'd have to ask. In fact, I haven't spoken to her or my sister in several months. If I could take a little va-cay this weekend," Viceroy hinted.

McFist just looked at him, not getting the hint.

"Well? Can you allow me a weekend va-cay with my family or not?" Viceroy asked in his typical Viceroy way.

"You had a vacation last week Viceroy!" McFist made a noise of resignation. "You say it will help me defeat the Ninja?"

"Well, my niece has great ideas, and I can convince her not to go after those robots again. And it's been awhile since I saw either of them." Viceroy looked at McFist slyly.

"And besides, now that they live in Norrisville, they'll end up at those fancy-smancy company parties you throw."

McFist 'Oooo'ed and clapped his hands slightly.

"Viceroy, I have an excellent idea. You should take the next two days off to talk to your niece and convince you sister to come to the next company party that's in three weeks."

"Okay, sir, but she'll insist on her husband, Jack, coming too. I'll go radio my niece now." He opened up his cell and called his sister, but the voice that came through was his stepfathers, Jonas Joans.

"Jonas? Why do you have Wilma's phone." His eyes widened, jaw dropping with shock.

"Why wasn't I informed? . . . ._The calls were blocked_?! . . . .I know, I know," he sighed sadly before continuing, "I'll come visit this weekend, would that be okay?. . . .Thank you." He hung up, a remorseful look in his eyes, that were shiny with unshed tears.

"The more the merrier. . . eh? What was that about?" McFist could be oblivious sometimes; not today though.

"Well, sir, Jack and my sister Wilma got in a car accident about a month ago. That's why my niece is living with her grandfather, Jonas, now." He turned away slightly, wiping his eyes.

McFist was at a loss of words. Marci was so much better at condolences than him.

"You can take a week off if you like," he offered. Viceroy didn't work well when he is depressed and Hannibal couldn't have faulty robots wandering around.

Viceroy only nodded, leaving the room. He actually didn't have much to pack, just some clothes and a few of his smaller gadgets.

And Nicholas, his pet amoeba, his food and such. Before long, he was ready to go.

Only then it dawned on McFist that he was going to be alone at the factory besides to Robo-apes and few human workers. For an _entire_ week. And even though he didn't like to admit it, he couldn't think up a plan to destroy the Ninja without Viceroy. Maybe he needed to take a vacation too.

"Your week off is effective immediately." he called loudly.

Viceroy had already left, Nicholas in a pet carrier and a rolling lavender suitcase with a black handle. Under 30 minutes, he was knocking on the door to Jenna's house.

Jenna wasn't there at the time, but Jonas Joans, her grandfather on her fathers side, answered the door.

The house of Mr. Joans was rather nice. A dusky indigo shade with a bright green front door, with two stories, two more if you counted the basement and the attic. A small front lawn and large backyard with trees and bushes edging the front.

The place was warm and inviting like the man himself.

He was tall, with a bit of a tan and bright, sea-blue eyes. His smoky grey hair and silver was long enough to be in a ponytail, and he liked to wear a leather fedora/cowboy hat mix when he left the house with a tan jacket. His voice wasn't that deep, but could be warm and inviting as a campfire or as harsh and intimidating as a wildfire, when the time called for it.

Overall, he was nice old man living in the suburbs Norrisville.

He beckoned Viceroy inside, taking his suitcase for home and heading down the hallway and up the stairs. "Hello, Willem." he greeted pleasantly. Viceroy paused before following him, taking a look around the room.

The living room had a big TV with a DVD, VCR, and a game system or two, with a dark green corner couch with a table. To the left was the kitchen, with a counter and four stools separating it from the living room.

A hall straight ahead led to three doors and a staircase at the end. A rocking chair was set off to the side of the TV, near the door next to a window with a dark brown side-table with a lamp.

Willem followed Jonas up the stairs and into a guest bedroom, that had fresh sheets and pillow cases and the like with a closet and a dresser, a few framed photographs on the walls, which were painted lavender while the floor was dark brown wood.

"Thanks for letting me come, Jonas, and I am so sorry for not being here sooner for Jenna." he paused. "Where is she, anyway? I mean, school has been out for awhile now, where is she at?"

Jonas shrugged. "She's out. Been exploring Norrisville little by little since she first arrived and got settled in. I allowed her a month to explore before she told me she was ready to go back to school. She's been going out into the forest, recently." Jonas replied.

"I see. Well, she'll be in for a treat when she gets home, then." he smiled, and Jonas smiled back, going back downstairs.

_Several Hours Later, After Dark . . . . ._

Jenna was in her room, sitting on her bed with a the dark grey, navy blue-ringed book in her hands.

Her room was rather big. The bed was pushed into the right hand corner of the room, the blue, green, and purple blankets and pillows were arranged into a large, oval nest shape with books and stuffed animals scattered around it.

On the left side of the room was a desk and chair with a laptop computer, a bookshelf built into the wall next to it, with books, stuffed animals, drawing supplies, and notebooks scattered all over the place. The closet was just behind the bed, near the door. The floor was light colored bamboo wood and the walls dark blue and covered with golden stars connected by paler, sandy gold lines, real and fake constellations covering the room.

There were cardboard boxes cut and painted to look like buildings, spaceships, and forts, even a tall one that looked like a treehouse, with more stuffed animals propped up in different positions. A few of the ones in the spaceships looked like they had been hand-made.

A few of the constellations on the ceiling had been given outlines, revealing the animals and shapes they normally hid. It was messy in some places and tidy in others. It was kinda chaotic. A large window directly across from the door had a pile of rope and wood lay underneath.

She looked down at the books front, lightly running a hand over the scarred cover; three deep lines cut through the cover and into a few of the pages on the lower right corner of the ancient book. Taking a deep breath, she opened it and gasped as she suddenly found herself falling through the book. She shouted in alarm, and yelped when she suddenly hit the ground.

She stood and looked around. She seemed to be in a forest; but the trees were leafless, long, deep marks in the bark, branches torn off and deep, ragged grooves etched into the ground. It was dark and dim and filled with murky fog, but she could still make out the form of a person, sprawled awkwardly, face down in the dirt among all the chaos. There was another person kneeling next to them, who seemed to be made of shadows.

Jenna wasn't sure what to do, but knew that she had to help. Not knowing who the shadowy person was, she picked up a fallen branch and snuck through the trees, hiding behind them and getting steadily closer. Within feet of them, she paused and listened. There was only the sound of quiet sobbing, and she peeked out, just enough to see what was happening before she charged.

The shadowy character was crying, reaching as if trying to touch the other person, but his hands seemed to slip right through them. Murky, clouded tears slipped down his face and fell to the ground. From what Jenna could judge of his stained cheeks (he had pale skin) this person had been crying for some time. She dropped the branch and slipped up quietly behind him, looking down at the other person.

It was a she, and rather young, too, no older than ten or eleven, with hair that alternated between dark brown and a lighter shade similar to Jenna's. She wore light blue pants and darker blue top, with bits of dark and light grey flowing over the surface and giving the impression of ocean waves, a dark grey belt crossing over her torso and shoulder that appeared to have the tattered remains of a blue bag attached.

Her skin was peachy, her clothes torn, and there were _three horizontal cuts that ran from her ear to her mouth on her left cheek_. They were fresh, and slowly oozed blood. Jenna froze, then moved to help, taking off her coat.

The man startled, mouth moving, but no sound came out. He seemed to be wearing a sort of long, open robe; it trailed into the shadows, as if it were becoming one with them, the front open and buttons all gone. Underneath he wore a sort of rough pants with patches over the knees some rope as a belt and bedraggled long sleeved-shirt that had certainly seen better days, as it looked bit torn and coming apart at the seams.

He had short, tangled dark hair, pale skin, an angular face, and long canine teeth that poked out from under his top lip, giving the appearance of a vampire.

His pale, sky blue eyes had blank, white pupils, suggesting that he was blind, but he looked at her with such an intense, inquisitive gaze that it was difficult to be sure. He seemed to be waiting for an answer, then sighed quietly and shook his head, beginning to slink away.

"Wait!" Jenna cried, even though she'd already kneeled down and was lightly dabbing the girls cheek with her coat.

The man paused, only a hint of his face visible. Out of no where, he plucked a darkened top hat from midair and placed it on his head, smiling gratefully before vanishing into midair. Jenna turned her attention to the girl, who, surprisingly, had sat up, holding the coat to her cheek. The girls eyes were a blue-violet mix, and they seemed to be older than the girl who had them.

The girl nodded. "Thank you for finding me, brave Warrior." her voice, too, was young, but had a rough edge.

Jenna blinked. "'Brave Warrior'? Hardly. I'm just trying to help out a person in need." she shrugged. "And I don't even know where I am."

The younger girl nodded, standing shakily and looking around. "Yes, it has been a long time. You not only helped me with my injury, but you were willing to attack a strange man in an even stranger land; and you saved me even before that."

Jenna frowned in thought. "I only just met you . . . "

The girl looked back at her. "The grey book, with navy blue rings and violet mask in the center? That has the tears at the bottom right corner?"

Jenna nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, but what does that-"

"Have to do with it? _Everything_." she pronounced 'everything' like 'evv-rr-ree-thee-eeng'. The girl spread her arms wide, and clouds gathered overhead, rain beginning to softly sprinkle down. As the rain touched her, her torn clothes and cut cheek beginning to heal and fix themselves in fast forward.

The trees and ground, too, began to heal. "I _am_ that book, you know. Or at least, it houses my spirit. You finding me in here, however," she smiled warmly, "has unlocked the door to my once-was prison."

Jenna scowled at her, arms crossed. "Could you perhaps say something that makes sense?" she asked, quickly growing confused and unable to find an explanation to what seemed to be a serious problem/situation. That usually frustrated her.

The other girl blinked, then nodded as the sky began to brighten up, less gloomy and more sun-shiny as the fog slowly disappeared around the small clearing, the clouds disappearing to reveal the color of parchment paper far above their heads, where a yellow doodle sun shone; although the rain kept coming down in low sprinkles, and the fog farther off in the woods remained, but gained a more white and less murky appearance, as if cleansed by the rain.

"First off, to start, my name is Winnie; Winnie Washeera and one of the Defending Six; you may have heard of us. . . .or not, in which case, I'm going to be explaining shortly."

Jenna tilted her head. The dusty, yellowed paper she'd found with the book and mask had said, "You are the Warrior, Defender of the town, and keeper of the Washira and Kelpient." in scrawled, messy hand writing, as if the person who had written it was both out of practice and in a hurry.

"An explanation would be nice." Jenna replied, curiosity in her tone, her annoyance slipping away.

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**Well, that'll be the end of that for now. Winnie's past and the explanation of where the mask and book came from, a bit of the Defenders past, when they first came together and such will come next chapter. Goodbye and please review!**


	5. Defenders Past, Part 2

**I'm back again! Sorry it took a little longer than normal. Time to answer the reviews and offer our love to those who are loving this story! :-D**

Nomi Norisu**: Yeah, she's the Warrior, glad you like it. There's going to be more on that this chapter.**

Elcall**: Yeah, Jenna's the Warrior, and the original was a ten year old girl, but a capable ten year old girl, mind you. And yeah, Jenna's uncle is Viceroy, but you've got to understand, besides her grandfather, the man is her last family member. And, well, sorry that this one wasn't as quick as the others.**

Ninjatana Warrior**: That sounds pretty cool, actually. As you'll soon see here, Darkness and Light are allyed together to help maintain Order and defeat Chaos. :-)**

**Okay, that's taken care of. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4:** Defenders Past, Part 2

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Winnie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, taking a seat on the ground. "Take a seat, it's a bit of a long story." she said, thinking. Jenna nodded and sat, watching with amazement and curiosity as the trees began to bud and grow flowers and leaves in fast forward.

Birdsong began to feel the air as the ground began to grow grass and flowers like snowdrops and daffodils and roses in fast forward all around them, and small, drawing-like butterflies began to flit around them. In fact, as she looked around, Jenna realized that everything except Winnie and herself looked like either an ancient drawing or more modern-ish looking doodle thing.

Digging into her bag, Winnie pulled out a cut-out looking paper scroll, unrolling it and holding it up to the open air, adjusting it like a picture frame on a wall before letting it go to float in open space. There were small bits of color along the bottom of the parchment, and Winnie tapped the red one. Above the little colors a curve-edged rectangular image appeared, almost like a tv.

A different place showed through, an open space with pine trees just behind it before someone appeared, like walking in front of a camera.

He wore an ink-black cloak embroidered with the "9" symbol of the Norisu and the Ninja, that covered him from the nose down, a clip, a glowing green version of the ninja mask, seemed to keep the cloak held up. His chest had rings of red on it, reminisce of the Nomicon, with a wild mane of bright red hair. The other highlights on the suit were red, the old parchment-like inside of his cloak filled with old writings, but hardly any neon doodles.

The bright green clip closely matched his blazing green eyes, and the figure appeared to be real, unlike the usual doodle-people and like Winnie.

He blinked in surprise, then seemed to smile widely beneath the cloak. "Heh heh, little sis, you're back! It's been a couple of hundred years, hasn't it?" he looked closer with a small, worried look in his eyes, seeming to frown. "Hang on, you didn't have any scars last time, what happened?" he asked, not bothering to try and hide his concern.

Winnie shrugged. "Damage was dealt to the book, and thus to me. But I didn't contact you just to chitchat; I need to know how much I'm allowed to tell her." she jabbed her thumb in Jenna's direction, as she was leaning over the smaller girls shoulder to peer at the scroll.

The guy blinked, pulling down the cloak a bit so his face could be fully seen. His worried frown could be plainly seen now, and he seemed to be debating something, a bit of wariness about his features.

"I already mentioned the Defending Six, and my name, so she may as well hear the rest." Winnie informed him, which seemed to sway the older teens decision, who looked to be about sixteen or so. He smiled thankfully, yet wearily, at her, as if tired but glad she was alright.

"Fine, but only your side. You make me sound like an idiot, Winnie." he told her, rolling his eyes playfully

"Love you too, Nomi." she replied, half sass and half caring. With that, the image disappeared and the scroll rolled up and dropped to the ground. Winnie picked it up and tucked it into her bag before facing Jenna.

"Okay, now, where to begin . . . . well, to start, I was part of a team with five others. Each of us had a main element that we could control using two certain, key objects; a piece of unassuming clothing, and a small stone we kept on us at all times, for it held the bulk of our power. We were united for two reasons; one, as friends, and two, to defeat the Sorcerer."

Jenna tilted her head, listening carefully.

"It was so long ago, about 800 years ago," Winnie continued, digging out a different scroll that had a wave symbol on it before spreading it out on the ground. Images came through, kinda shaky, as if filmed by a camera, and with a warm glow, like a flashback. Otherwise, it looked like how she contacted Nomi.

_Three teens, an adult, and one younger girl were walking and chatting in a village consisting of Japanese style houses, and everyone wore strange clothing. Well, strange to us, anyhow._

_The tallest and eldest, a man in his late twenties, looked a bit like an Indian, with dark skin and brown-black, short, shaggy hair and keen, brown-grey eyes. He wore dark green pants, dirt-brown sleeveless shirt, pale green belt, no shoes, and had a sack flung over one shoulder._

"That's Chikyū. He basically supervised us and acted as our uncle." Winnie explained, pointing at him.

_The second tallest was a teenager, maybe about seventeen years old, with coppery hair and peachy skin. He was only a little shorter than the first man, his bright blue eyes wide with curiosity as he gazed around himself. His clothes were mostly of pale shades; a pale green short sleeved shirt, pale beige pants that tucked into leather cowboy boots with metal spurs, a cowboy hat propped up on his head. He wore a carefree, happy smile as he sauntered along with the others._

"And that's Wally. He's always fun to have around. He tells the greatest stories and isn't that bad at singing, either. We could never sneak up on him." Winnie continued.

_The third tallest looked like the guy Winnie had called "Nomi". He looked about the same, but with different clothes. Now, he wore a red long sleeved coat with black pants and a white band for a belt, his hair a little longer and pulled back in a ponytail that stood out from his head and leather sandals._

"That would be Nomi, pronounced 'Nah-me'. He's my honorary older brother." Winnie rolled her eyes with a fond smile.

_The third teen was as tall as Nomi, a girl, with olive skin, bright grey eyes, sandy blond hair, and primarily pastel yellow clothes. She wore a long sleeved shirt, a white skirt with pastel yellow markings that went over plain grey pants and dark brown leather sandals._

"That's Hikari. She's like the older sister slash cousin. She taught me how to sew up the rips in my clothes." Winnie continued with a note warmth in her tone.

_The shortest, the girl, looked like Winnie, but a little smaller than her current age, with no scars on her cheeks. She wore a dark grey long sleeved coat and pants with a blue belt and satchel slung over her shoulder, and no shoes._

"We were just having a good time that particular day." Winnie continued. "It was all fun and games."

_As they passed a building, heading towards a pine forest nearby, a shadow stirred and detached itself from the wall. It slunk closer before grabbing Wally by the shoulders, shouting random gibberish. Everyone startled, Wally jerking away with terror clear in sky blue eyes, swinging a fist back that hit the mysterious person on the cheek, knocking him to the ground.  
The mystery person seemed to fade from inky blackness into color, even though he was in the sunlight._

_It was a teenage boy, with short, dark blue hair, ocean-blue eyes that had white pupils, an angular face with pale skin, and long canine teeth that poked out from under his top lip. He wore dark, murky purple pants, dark blue long sleeved shirt, and a long, open robe/cloak that trailed on the ground behind him a little. The robe draped over his shoulders and latched under his neck with two shiny black buttons, with long sleeves that he wasn't currently using._

_He had a dark, murky purple top hat, that was currently knocked aside on the ground, and an onyx stone set in dark pewter, that glinted dark shades of blue and purple when the light hit it right. It swung about his neck by a dark pewter chain as he looked around wildly, blindly, a hand to his cheek while his other scrabbled about on the ground for, presumably, his hat._

"That's Moor-ee," Winnie continued, indicating the new figure on the ground. "Muri is my best friend, and we've always been there for eachother. Whenever we have a problem, we chat about it. He always liked trying to prank us, especially Wally, since no one else can sneak up on him." Winnie finished.

_Winnie hurried over to him, grabbing his hand and helping up to his feet before picking up his top hat. After dusting it off and returning it to him, she began to shout at Wally angrily, waving her hands around. Wally ducked his head, a look of fear in his eyes as the much smaller girl advanced on him. Muri, meanwhile, snapped his fingers, a long, dark brown cane appearing from no where._

_At the top was a carved wolfs' head, which he gripped as he tapped the extremely thin end on the ground, like a blind man. He was a little taller than Nomi and Hikari, but it was quickly revealed through Winnie's protective, angry shouting that Muri was fourteen, while Hikari and Nomi were sixteen, Wally seventeen, and Chikyū twenty-six, and herself ten._

_"Don't you get it?!" Winnie carried on. "His grandfather may have wonked up, but Muri hasn't, and he doesn't deserve to be treated this way! He's just the same as the rest of us! We're a family!" she sniffled a little and rubbed at her watering eyes. "We're a family . . . . "_

_Hikari was the first to comfort her, pulling the younger girl into a hug, stroking her hair. "Sh, sh, it's okay, Winnie." she directed an annoyed glare at Nomi, Chikyū, and Wally, daring them to say the wrong thing. One by one, they all apologized to Muri and and Winnie, and they carried on with their walk, going out of town and into a pine forest._

_Winnie and Muri were having a rather strange conversation, going on about ghost-bats and leviathans, cave-creepers and giant squid. The others couldn't help but glance at eachother with confusion and a small bit of wariness. Muri did talk kinda strange, and his appearance was rather off putting at the best of times. Nevertheless, as the conversation turned to one of stealth tactics and sneak attacks, the others joined in._

_Wally, Nomi, Muri, and Winnie were especially passionate about these subjects, as all were, in a way, like ninjas. Sure, they had their differences, and not everyone saw eye-to-eye when it came to certain things, but they were a team; no, not a team._

_They were family, and they had to start acting like one._

"We were a family, and now that you're the next Warrior, you have to find four other people, and help them find the other books. I'll help you find the books, and the right people, later on, but for now, you need to practice using the suit." Winnie explained, pausing what the scroll was showing, ending with all six smiling and laughing with one another.

Jenna nodded. "I think I understand. I was able to talk with the Ninja on Monday. He . . . he was about to reveal his secret identity, but I stopped him." Jenna admitted.

Winnie nodded thoughtfully. "Good choice; Nomi would've thrown a fit had the Ninja revealed himself to a stranger like that. The Ninja knows Nomi as a book called the Nomicon. I'd better send you back now."

Jenna didn't even have time for a nod as Winnie snapped her fingers. Within moments, Jenna was sucked out and awake on her bed, sprawled on top of the open grey and blue book. She sat up quickly. Looking down at the open page, she saw words scrawled across.

**THE SUITS BOUNDS  
ARE ****ONLY ****LIMITED  
BY YOUR IMAGINATION **

Jenna nodded with a yawn, closing the book and gently pushing it aside before turning over and flopping onto the pillows, pulling a blanket over herself as she fell asleep.

* * *

Winnie turned back to the scroll after Jenna fell asleep and let it continue playing.

_However, as the trail twisted deeper into the trees, they heard shouts of fear and terror. As one, they turned, and, after a single glance among themselves, hid in the trees off to the side of the path, splitting up to go their separate ways._

_At the village, night had begun to fall, and the Sorcerer had a brand-new companion. The Sorceress. Six shapes appeared on nearby rooftops and on the ground, slinking closer in the shadows or racing across the ground or rooftops._

_The first to arrive was a samurai wearing earthy brown armor with jade green marks; stripes that went up his legs from his feet, over the knees. From the back of the hands, another set of stripes did the same thing, going over the shoulders, a single band going down his chest and over the heart, outlining an earthy brown image of three mountain peeks, the third the tallest while the other two flanked it. _  
_A jade green band went around his waist as a belt, and a dark brown headband with thick streaks of jade green was tied tightly around his forehead, the ends fluttering in the wind._

_The Sorcerer and Sorceress both grinned evilly at him. "Well, if it isn't the Earthen Samurai; come to try and save another village only to fail again?" the Sorceress asked, and the Earthen Samurai glared in return, drawing a heavy stone hammer from out of no where, similar to Thor's, but with roughened, sharp edges. He stilled his breathing, trying to calm down so he could properly feel the earth beneath his feet._

_On a rooftop nearby stood the First Ninja, sword drawn and ready to be used._

_Across from him on a different building stood a figure clad in similar clothing, but with different colors. They wore a marshmallow white suit with slanting pale yellow markings that all seemed to move inward, towards the heart.  
The marking over her heart was a seven-pointed star made of pale yellow. A band of pale yellow fabric wrapped around her waist as a belt, and two bands of pale yellow fabric ran from her wrists to her sides, which she could make grow or shrink at will, like wings, or detach one from her side as use for a grappling hook._

_Down below, in the shadows, a person wearing a dark, murky blue hooded cloak that had dark, murky purple markings scattered across it, making him difficult to be seen. A dark, murky purple scarf with strange dark, murky blue markings was wrapped around his neck and face, covering him from the eyes down. The cloak fluttered behind him as he moved, revealing dark purple long sleeved shirt and pants with dark blue on all the outside edges of the fabric, and dark blue-purple boots. Over his heart was a rough outline of a two legged, four winged dragon, done in dark blue on his purple over his dark purple shirt._

_Up above the town, a man wearing pale, grey-white long sleeved shirt and pants, boots, cowboy hat, all covered with silvery tendrils and curlicues. Large, feathered, silver-white wings adorned his back, flapping in the faint breeze, his hair black and eyes amber-golden in color. Covering his face starting with his nose was a pale grey-white bandanna covered in silvery tendrils and curlicues._

_His holster held a pistol on the left hip, a coiled up whip on the right, and a coil of rope was looped around his left shoulder. The whip's handle and sharp end were silver, and the rest pale grey, the rope pale grey-silver, and the pistol silver with tendrils of grey-white wrapping over its surface. Over his heart was a silver strand of three coils, like shells, nestled together, one on top and two underneath._

_On the ground, not even bothering to hide, was a figure clad similarly to the Ninja, but with pastel grey with navy blue markings. The markings were wavy, like water, where the Ninja's were straight, a wave-in-a-circle symbol over her heart, and blue tear/rain drop-shaped markings under the eyes, four under the left and five under the right, giving a false appearance of crying._

_At her belt was a wavy navy blue strip of fabric; like the Ninja's headband/scarf, she could use it as a grappling hook or to tie up enemies. Another odd addition to the suit, fingers on the gloves were webbed with a see through, durable bluish material. The suit covered her all the way, even her eyes, which, where the Ninja's suit had open fabric, her's were covered by the see-through, aforementioned durable bluish material._

_While the Earthen Samurai kept them distracted, the others crept ever closer before striking. "Warrior! Get her!" cried the Sorcerer, trying to blast the dark grey and navy blue clad girl, who only ran faster. A huge slab of earth rose in front of her, taking the brunt of the attack, and she leaped on top before lunging down, throwing some ninja stars at them._

_The Sorcerer and Sorceress quickly dodged aside, letting go of eachothers hands, while the pale grey-white and silver figure swooped in, grabbing the Warrior by the arms and belt, helping her make a soft landing before circling higher._

_"The Cowboy!" the Sorcerer shouted in shock, moving to attack the winged fighter, just as an explosion of light blinded him and his girlfriend. _

_"The Guardian of Light?! Impossible!" the Sorceress shrieked, pawing at his eyes in an attempt to restore his sight. Said Guardian the white and yellow claw figure, dodged in and out of view on the rooftops._

_Then, the figure with the cloak, who had previously snuck up behind them, leapt forward, simply colliding with the Sorceress and knocking her further away from the Sorcerer. Grabbing her tightly to keep her arms pinned, he simply absorbed the raw power off of her, making her weak. Just as he was starting to become overwhelmed with the vast amount of energy, the two beings of chaos regained their sight._

_"The Magician of Darkness?! Your family was wiped out!? You shouldn't be alive right now!?" the Sorcerer shouted, gathering up some magic to throw his way. But then, the Ninja dived down, tackling him aside, the Guardian and Samurai swiftly joining him. The Magician shoved the Sorceress away, and began to mutter and chant under his breath, eyes beginning to glow slightly, using his hands to open a swirling yellow and black portal._

_The Warrior and the Cowboy then worked together to attack and distract the Sorceress, respectively, before the Ninja kicked her into the portal, which closed swiftly after. Drained from containing so much raw magic all at once, the Magician collapsed, and the Warrior, who had stayed near him, quickly checked to make sure he was all right._

_The other four continued to fight and drive the Sorcerer away from the village, and the people of the town became unstank'd. The Six Defenders of the village stayed briefly, just long enough to receive some thanks, before they all disappeared in the direction of the nearby pine forest. _

_The next day, Wally, Chikyū, Muri, Winnie, Nomi, and Hikari cautiously made their way back into town, shocked by the damage dealt. They asked around to try and find out what had happened, astonished and amazed at the brave deeds of the six hero's. Working with the townsfolk, they began to fix and rebuild the town._

* * *

**Okay, well, that happened. I wanted to show how the suits looked. Also, I meant to have a little more in this, but it was getting to long, so I cut it in half. Expect the next update in a few hours, give or take. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed. :-) Please review!**


	6. Lessons, Training, and Family

**Two in one day? Astounding. Expect another sometime this week. Now, to answer the reviews. **

Elcall**: Yep, the "other books"; The Defending Six, 1211 addition, at the time of that chapter. I thought it'd be a nice teaser-trailer. To be honest, I don't always know what to expect from me either. I just write and let it flow. It nearly writes itself; that's what it feels like sometimes, at least. :-)**

Nomi Norisu**: As you can see, more chapter! Expect another tomorrow at the earliest. I've kinda out-written myself for today. **

**Okay, so, this is the rest of the chapter that I didn't get the chance to add into the other one, so, I ope y'all enjoy this. :-)**

* * *

**Chapter 5:** Lessons, Training, and Family

* * *

Randy was pulled away from the world of Grave-Punchers by the Nomicon flashing and buzzing. Howard groaned in annoyance as his friend stood and walked over to it.

"Seriously? It's nearly ten o'clock at night! What could your dumb Ninja-know-it-all book have to say now?" Howard complained loudly.

Randy rolled his eyes. "How am I supposed to know? That's why I'm looking." he sat down and opened the book, getting sucked in almost immediately. The fall through the book was about that same as normal, but when he landed, it was in a dojo, and it looked a little wonky, at that. Instead of just the usual red "9" symbols covering the walls, they alternated with navy blue, circular wave ones, as well. Besides the numerous puddles all over the place, and fiery torches along the walls.

Inside, a doodle ninja was facing off with a large monster that resembled a grey Komodo Dragon with green spines and claws. After being knocked aside, his sword far out of reach, the doodle ninja scrambled back on his hands and knees. In the background, an ancient art pop-art women with light brown hair, dark brown shirt, green skirt, and tan pants underneath, grabbed up the sword, running up the Komodo's tail and onto its back.

Once on its head, she grabbed onto one of its large back spines before plunging the sword into on of its eyes. It roared in pain, rearing back from where it had the ninja pinned, clawing his shoulder, then trying to claw the women. She quickly ducked out of the way, but still got her leg scratched by one of its claws. The doodle ninja stood, put a hand to its chin with a classic "thinking of an idea" face, before raising his finger with a small doodle exclamation point appearing over his head.

Pulling out some ninja rings, he threw them at the Komodo dragon, the small, sharp weapons digging into its neck, killing it instantly. The monster collapsed, and the doodle ninja helped the women down, showing concern for her injury, ignoring the even worse one on his shoulder. He took his scarf and gave it to her, and she wrapped it quickly around her leg.

Then, she pulled on a pastel grey and navy blue marked mask over her head and hair. A suit similar to the Ninja's appeared, but with different colors and markings. Taking the belt, that was long and waved in the air like the scarf, she wrapped it around his shoulder, smiling a little as he tried to get her to stop with a flustered expression, trying to act like he wasn't hurt so bad. Some words appeared above their heads.

**THE WARRIOR HAS RETURNED  
TO AID THE NINJA IN COMBAT**

Randy read the words aloud under his breath. "Um, Nomicon, I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me." he said uncertainly, looking at the dead Komodo dragon, then to the doodle ninja and ancient cut-out drawing lady-turned-ninja look-alike. They looked at him, the ninja doing a light face palm while the the girl rolled her eyes.

**THE ****_WARRIOR_**** HAS ****RETURNED**  
**TO ****AID**** THE ****_NINJA_**** IN ****_COMBAT_**

"Warrior", "combat" and "Ninja" were highlighted, while "returned" and "aid" were circled a few times. Randy looked from the words to the scene in front of him, then shrugged, deciding to take a guess.

"Do you mean that there's another ninja that's supposed to help me?" he asked at last. The doodle Ninja nodded "yes", but the ancient-drawing-ninja-women shook her head "no".

**THE WARRIOR IS A DIFFERENT **  
**PERSON FROM THE NINJA  
THEY ARE SIMILAR YET  
HAVE DIFFERENT SKILLS**

Randy read the words over in silence. "Do I have to find this 'Warrior'? Or will he -or she- find me?" he asked at last. The doodle ninja shrugged, as well as the women ninja, who must be the representation of this "Warrior", he realized.

Looking back up at the words, he frowned in thought. "Will they just. . . show up, when there's a monster or robot attack?"

The doodle ninja and ancient-drawing warrior nodded, and then Randy was sucked back out of the book. He blinked, then glanced to his left, where Howard was slowly moving a sharpie marker at his face, a look of concentration on his face, tongue sticking out. He blinked in realization and withdraw slightly as Randy gave him a look.

"You were going to draw a mustache on me, weren't you." Randy stated flatly, sitting up and putting the Nomicon on the table.

Howard snorted. "No, I wasn't!" Howard denied, then gained a mischievous look. "I wanted to see how you looked with cat whiskers . . . . and the words 'meow wow' on your forehead and chin." he chuckled to himself, capping the sharpie.

"So what'd you're stupid book say?" he continued, sitting down and fiddling around with a game controller. "'Cause, its past eleven at night." he finished, giving his biffer a bit of a look.

Randy's eyes widened. "Ah, what? It felt significantly shorter in the book." he tapped his chin in thought for a moment, then told Howard what he'd seen and been told.

Howard toyed around with the sharpie, rolling and tossing it between his hands. "So, you basically have a partner no one else knows about? Don't you realize that it sounds almost exactly like the stories?" he half asked, half demanded.

Randy, who'd by now sat cross legged on the ground across from his friend, tilted his head, a confused yet curious expression on his face. "Hm?"

Howard groaned in exaggeration. "You know! About the Ninja and the five other people who helped him protect the town? Back before it even had a name? Jeez!" he rolled his eyes dramatically. "I seriously thought you'd remember! There was a wizard guy, a dude in armor, this cowboy guy, and two girls in ninja suits. They all disappeared while the Ninja stuck around." Howard explained swiftly, counting them off on his fingers.

Randy's eyes widened with remembrance, and he nodded. "Yeah . . . can't believe I forgot," he smiled. "Thanks buddy."

"Don't mention it, Cunningham, just _don't_. You'll just have find her when school starts on Monday or whatever." Howard replied with fake irritation, but he was secretly pleased that he'd remembered. It was a long time ago, when they were little kids, that they had started searching for more information on the Ninja's story. What they find was both exciting and mysterious.

What they'd found detailed six people, including the Ninja, who had defended the town and surrounding area. No one else seemed to know about these five other hero's, all focusing on the Ninja himself, which, in way, made sense.

The Ninja was still around, he'd never left the town undefended, while the others had deserted. Or had they? As Randy climbed up onto his bunk, he wondered if the other five had left, or . . .or if they had been killed. He shook away his thoughts as he fell asleep.

* * *

The next day was Saturday, and Jenna was up before the sun, sneaking out of the house with her backpack, the Washira, the mask, a metal water bottle and some sandwiches. She left behind only a sticky note saying where she went, stuck to the coffee machine, where her grandfather and uncle would be sure to find it. She still didn't understand how anyone could enjoy the bitter drink.

She made her way into the nearby pine forest, she searched around for the better part of twenty minutes to make sure no one else had been there recently or was there now. After confirming that, she climbed into a tree and used a short length of brown rope to tie her backpack in place, then grabbed the mask, taking a deep breath, and and out, in and out.

"Okay, lets do this." she said aloud, pulling the mask on. Instantly, pastel grey and navy blue ribbons sprung out from the mask, wrapping around her, covering her fully, from head to boot-tips. She stared at her gloved, apparently webbed hands.

The markings were navy blue, and wavy, like water, where the Ninja's were straight, a wave-in-a-circle symbol over her heart, and blue tear/rain drop-shaped markings under the eyes, four under the left and five under the right, giving a false appearance of crying.

At her belt was a wavy navy blue strip of fabric; like the Ninja's scarf, she could use it as a grappling hook or to tie up enemies. To Jenna, it looked a bit like a tail. Another odd addition to the suit, fingers on the gloves were webbed with a see through, durable bluish material. The suit covered her all the way, even her eyes, which, where the Ninja's suit had open fabric, her's were covered by the see-through, aforementioned durable bluish material.

Jenna fumbled a little, dragging out the Washira, struggling to open it, but it wouldn't open. "Why! Won't! You! Open!" she shouted; or, tried to. All that came out of the suit were muffled grunts and trills. Putting the book back in the pack, she slowly placed her hands over her mouth.

"Hello?" she finally said, but it came out as a muffled, questioning warble. Some doodle words appeared in her line of sight.

"**THE SUIT PREVENTS THE WARRIOR FROM SAYING A WORD**"

She scowled a little, looking at the book. "Then how-?" more doodles flew into her line of sight.

"**EXCEPT WHAT COMES DIRECTLY FROM THE HEART AND SOUL**" it finished, then disappeared.

Jenna blinked, not sure exactly how to react to that, or what it might mean. She decided to leave that for later.

"'The suits bounds are limited only by my imagination'. . . . well, lets get to work." she thought to herself, deciding to get to work. She started by scrambling down the tree. On the way down, she quickly discovered that she was faster and more flexible than before, and her grip on the tree came easier. Once at the bottom, she took a few stones she had, took some leaves, and made a target to hit from far away.

Standing back at about thirty paces, she turned and threw the small stones as hard as she could at the branch she'd set up, knocking a few clean holes through the exact center. Blinking in surprise, she walked back over to the hole, peered through the leaves.

"Woah . . ." she muttered, which came out as a trilling growl. Recalling how the Ninja had pulled things out of seemingly no-where from his suit, and also how he had used his scarf, she wondered if it were the same for her, too. Deciding to start with something more akin to climbing then fighting, she took the waving belt end, then flung it onto a tree branch farther up.

Tugging to make sure it was secure, she leaped, tugging on it, then squealed sharply when she swung right into the tree. Gravity slowly peeled her off and she fell, stomach first, on the branch she'd initially aimed for, knocking the wind out of her.

"Okay . . . that hurt . . ." she gasped, her words coming out as a few wheezing growls. After laying there for a few more minutes, she pulled herself on top of the branch before tugging on the belt a little. It came off instantly, and she stood on the branch, eyeing the distance between where she was and where the next tree and branch were.

It was about twenty feet, ten being the distance between the branches ends. Taking another breath, she ran forward and leaped as far as she could. Her jump carried her farther than expected, but this time, she was prepared and managed to stop herself from face planting into the tree. She paced a little on the branch, thinking.

"Hm . . . whenever I do it as hard as I can, it's too much . . . to get this to work, I have to pull back . . . " she smiled underneath the mask, and kept practicing. For awhile, all she did was jump from branch to branch, occasionally using the belt to help her swing across the farther gaps. When she was positive that she'd got it down, she went back to her pack and sat down to have something to eat.

Deciding to experiment a little, she pulled the bottom edge of the mask up over her chin and mouth. After the suit didn't retract, she pulled it up farther, to just above her nose. Satisfied with this new development, she took a sandwich from her pack and began to eat, filling her stomach for the first time that day. Afterwards, she tried to speak again, which lead to a pretty big surprise.

Even with the mask partially up like this, she couldn't speak. The sounds that had been present before, too, were no longer present. Pulling the mask down all the way, she tried a few, quiet "Hello"'s, and got trills, but pull the mask up so her mouth was uncovered; nothing, zip, zap, zero, nada. She finally decided to let that small disappointment go in favor of seeing what sort of weapons she had.

Turns out, not a whole lot. She had some flat, sharp, four-pointed metal stars she could throw, a set of small, lightweight daggers with navy blue running along the metal, a variety of little orbs that did different things according to the color, and navy blue smoke-bombs that smelled salty with the slightest hint of dead fish. Deciding that that was enough training for one day, she scaled the tree to get her pack.

Taking off the suit and tucking it away into her pocket, she untied it from the tree and slung it on her back. After scrambling back down, she set off in the direction of her neighborhood. It was around noon by the time she stepped inside. Viceroy was on the couch, reading a book he found on the shelf. He turned when the door opened, a delighted smile on his face as she came in.

"Jenna, you're back!" he exclaimed, dog-earing the book before walking over to her.

She nodded in return, a small smile on her face. "Hi, Uncle Willem." she returned, dropping her backpack on the counter before going into the kitchen, peering into the freezer.

Willem joined her, noticing the pine needles and pitch on her pack with a small level of disdain. "Uh, it looks like you've had a busy morning." he said at last.

She nodded, pulling a home-made orange juice Popsicle from the freezing, beginning to lick it. "Yeah, I went out into the woods and practiced my tree climbing." she half-lied, flinching inwardly. She didn't like telling lies to her family, and with a bit of dread, she realized that it was probably going to become a regular thing from now on. With a quiet sigh, she sat at the counter, a look of despondency and wondering on her face.

Viceroy sat next to her, taking her look for something else. "You miss them, don't you?" he asked quietly.

Jenna only nodded, tears beginning pool in her violet eyes as she glanced away.

Viceroy sighed quietly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Look, I know it's hard, and I know you haven't wanted to talk about it much . . . but I just need you to know this; I'm here for you, I won't let anything happen to you, ever." he told her sincerely, pulling her gently into his lap, gently hugging her.

"I don't want to forget them . . ." she admitted quietly, trying to hold back her tears.

He paused, throat tightening. "You don't have to forget them." he said at last. "But bottling it all up forever won't make it feel any better. In the end, it makes it worse, honey." he held her a little tighter.

She nodded after a moment. "You're right . . . but what should I do now?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

Viceroy struggled to find the words. "I don't know . . . it . . . it is only Saturday. You could go hang out with a few friends." he suggested, trying to put cheeriness in his tone.

Jenna looked down again, a few tears escaping her eyes. "I don't have any friends. I help people out, but no one really talks to me." she admitted, not sure what to do now.

Viceroy gently scooted her back into her own seat, but turned her so she was facing him. "Listen baby, I know its hard and you don't really like to stand out in a crowd, but sometimes, you have to if you want to find what you're looking for."

Jenna looked alarmed and a little wary at this statement. "But I . . . I don't like having people look at me . . ." she ducked her head so her bangs hid her eyes.

"I'm not saying to go have a Battle of the Bands or declare a Prank War on the whole school." he told her humorously. "What I mean is, instead of staying in the background the whole time, why don't you go up and chat with people. You know, get to them, let them know you, make some friends!" he finished with a smile, hoping he'd explained it well.

While he may be great at coming up with ingenious ideas and creations to destroy the Ninja, he wasn't half-bad at social advice, either. Plus, he knew his niece perfectly. They used to play and hang out all the time when she was younger before he was officially hired by McFist.

Jenna nodded slowly. "I'll . . . I'll _try_," she said at last. "But you . . . you _promise_ you'll be there for me if something goes . . . . _bad_?" she said the last part hesitantly. Last time something, "went bad", her parents had gotten into the car accident just over a month ago . . . and when she tried to call her uncle, she could never reach him, no matter how many times she tried, until their home-phone number was officially blocked by the company.

Viceroy nodded. "I promise." he told her, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling reassuringly.

* * *

**I'll end it here. As you can see, they're both very close. Neither knows the others secret, though, so you can imagine the trouble this is going to lead to later on. Please review! :-)**


	7. Friendship Is Complicated, , ,

**Back again! I am on a roll today! Time to give my thanks to all who've reviewed since last update a few hours ago.**

Nomi Norisu**: Yeah, keyword being "almost" here. Let's just say, this is going to cause some real problems later on for them.  
**

Elcall**: Yeah, the suit is pretty cool. My original design was exactly like the Ninja's(boring!) but with different colors. The additions(the webbed hands, movement of the scarf's location, and covered eyes) are to help with moving through water. And yeah, it's going to take a little bit longer for the Warrior and Ninja to meet, but hopefully, next chapter, it'll happen. **

**Remember when the doodles told her why she can't speak in words during her self-training session? Well, it has to come from her heart and soul for the words to be revealed. M****eaning, her words have to be true and sincere. Water can be deceiving, in depth and the powerful currents underneath. The Warrior, being a sort of representative of the different sides of water, needs to be truthful where it counts, as well as deceptive(because accidentally revealing you're identity is a pretty big deal)**

**And as for the other books . . . actually, you're really close in terms of a location. They're scattered all over Norrisville. Let's see . . . Randy has one, so does Jenna, a third is already "found", per say, and that leaves three more to find, and four more students to find them. Oh, and by the way, you only have to be impatient until tomorrow after this one. It's real good, heh heh.  
**

**(Also, I can confirm that I planned on one of the books being hidden in the Old Gym, which ties a lot of canon and my imagination all cobbled together. Basically, think of the four remaining elements and the spots they would most likely be hidden. I'm trying to stick to canon on this in terms of places, so if you think of place, go ahead and name it.) **

**Wow. That was a pretty long review answering, but I don't really care. I love the reviewers! ;-P (playful, joking wink) Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7:** Friendship Is Complicated . . .

* * *

Jenna didn't particularly like having someone else choose where she went and what she did, but her Uncle _did_ have a pretty good point. Where else would she be most likely to meet kids her age during the weekend. Although, now that she was here, she had absolutely no idea what to do. Trapped in the school? Find a good spot and start climbing for "fun". Attacked by a bear? Scream at the top of your lungs and bang pots together to drive it away while edging for the nearest tree, just in case.

The Gamehole was something she wasn't prepared for, book-wise, street-wise, or just in general. She'd rarely ever played video games, besides Frogger, and she'd stopped playing _that_ years ago. She couldn't really escape, since her uncle was hanging out nearby and would know if she just left after being in there for two minutes.

So, after a minute of looking around in total confusion and _attempting_ to puzzle out a plan of action, Jenna finally shrugged and started walking around the arcade. She glanced at the various games, squinting a little as the dark atmosphere plus the bright, ever-changing lights of the screens hurt her eyes a little. She saw a few people she'd helped out at school, like Bucky, Juggo, Accordion Dave.

They all waved when they saw her, but almost immediately went back to whatever they had been doing, whether starting on another game, chatting with someone else, or eating some food. She would give a quiet ,"Hello," or "Hi," and a small wave in return, but kept on walking. She wasn't sure if she should ask to join or wait for someone to ask her.

She had literally no experience in this area of everyday life; well, everyday life for _most_ people, but not her. As Jenna wandered farther back, she accidentally bumped into someone. Starting to apologize, she was cut off, the person she'd run into in on mood for apologies.

"Hey, watch where you're walking, shoob!" shouted the boy, jabbing his finger right into her face. "I almost beat the high score, and then you come along and have to wonk things up! Thanks for nothing!" it was Howard, and in the dim lighting, and with Jenna subtly pulling up her hood, he didn't recognize her.

Jenna froze, then stepped back a little, with a quiet, timid, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. . . "

"You should be! I don't even have any tokens left now!" he continued, venting his anger and frustration on her. He'd been so close at beating the high score and rubbing it in Cunningham's face!

Jenna ducked her head, then turned and walked away, hands clenching at her sides. She was keeping down sobs, but a few small sniffles escaped her as she walked past a taller boy with spiky purple hair.

Randy paused and waved to her. "Hey, Jenna! Wanna, you know, come hang with me and Howard?" he invited. Then, he thought over the Nomicons' message from Friday night. After some more thought on it, he realized that the fight between ninja, lizard, and Warrior vaguely resembled his fight with the robotic Mantis from last Monday . . . when Jenna had helped him and got hurt because of it.

Jenna almost flinched, but managed to hold it back.

"Naw, me and Howard kinda . . . bumped into eachother already. I . . . I'm good, but thanks. He just . . didn't seem in the best of moods." she replied, keeping most of the shakiness out of her voice, but not all. She slipped past him and went to the very back, where there was an exit, and went outside. Once there, she walked down the alley a couple of paces before sitting against the wall with a quiet sigh.

"Why do I mess up every chance I have to make friends?" she groaned quietly, burying her face in her hands, letting herself begin to cry, sobs shaking her shoulders and tears streaming down her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Randy and Howard had regrouped. "What do you mean you need more tokens?! I just gave you the rest of my tokens less than fifteen minutes ago!?" Randy exclaimed, waving his arms around at his biffer, irritated.

Howard held his hands up. "I know, I know, but I kept dying in the game and putting in the tokens so I could keep going! I was _this_ close, Cunningham," he showed a tiny amount with his fingers, "_This_ close . . . and then some shoob bumped into me and made me wonk up!" he finished.

Randy thought for a moment. There weren't a whole lot of people at this end of the Gamehole, only one or two others besides Howard and himself, which begged the question of who bumped into Howard. He would've gotten pretty steamed at them.

"Do you know who bumped into you?" he asked.

Howard shrugged, leaning against the game console and looking at his fingernails. "I dunno, some shoob in a camo hoodie." he replied.

Randy's eyes widened. "That's Jenna, dude! Don't you remember what happened last Friday between her and Bash? She beat him without even touching him!"

Howard's eyes widened, too, then narrowed with disbelief. "Well, she sure didn't _sound_ like 'Jenna'. She sounded like any other 'fraidy cat shoob." he replied dismissively.

Randy recalled when he had walked past her. What she said seemed awfully suspicious. "I invited her to join us a few minutes ago . . . and she said she'd, '_bumped into you_', and that you weren't, '_in the best of moods_'? Hm? Ring any bells?" Randy asked, crossing his arms. He was not happy.

Howard gave him a look. "What are you getting at, Cunningham?" he returned, suddenly grumpy, annoyed at the turn in conversation, but secretly curious. What had brought on Jenna's odd, hundred-and-eighty-degree change in reaction and personality?

"What I'm getting at is you totally made her upset!" Randy exclaimed, waving his arms. Didn't Howard get it? Yelling at others guys was okay, but not at girls. Even he had standards.

"She's tough, she can handle it! Did you not hear about how she was completely unaffected when Bash's insulted her?" he returned. He could see where he could've _possibly_ gone wrong, but didn't understand why Randy was getting his cheese in a bunch over it.

"Yeah, but she's new here! She doesn't know who Bash is or his popularity status." he returned sharply. "Otherwise, she would've _totally_ been affected. And," he paused, giving his friend a bit of a look. "Since I know you won't apologize, **I** will." Randy told him, jabbing his thumb towards his chest before turning to look for Jenna.

Howard rolled his eyes. "Classic us . . ." he muttered, deciding to go get some food before catching up with his bro.

Randy opened the door to the alley slowly, glancing around. He saw Jenna, leaning back against the wall of the building a few feet to the left. Walking out, he called out to her.

"Hey, Jenna? Uh, what's going on?" he asked.

She started, looking sharply in his direction, eyes wide and tears on her face, just visible underneath her bangs. "Oh-ah, h-hey, Randy . . ." she stammered, looking back down at a small photograph she had in her hand.

Randy walked over and sat next to her, noticing how she stiffened. "Look, I'm sorry Howard got all grumpy at you, but, well, he can't help it. When he's mad about something, he just says it, ya'know?" he told her, rubbing the back of his neck. It was clear she'd been crying, probably for awhile now; had Howard really upset her that much?

Jenna nodded faintly. "Yeah . . . sometimes, things just . . . can't be h-helped . . ." she replied despondently, looking down at the picture again with a quiet sniffle. It seemed that there was more to the problem than just Howard yelling at her.

From what Randy could see of the small pic, there was a man with blue-green eyes and medium brown hair, a women with dark brown hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. Just behind the man was someone who could almost be the man, but . . . older, with more blue in his eyes, silvery hair, and a sort of weathered look about him. Actually, Randy could recognize this man as Old Man Joans.

Old Man Joans, or Mr. Joans to his face, was a kindly guy that lived not to far from his place and practically everyone in Norrisville knew, except he looked a little younger in the picture. Next to the women was none other than Viceroy, in his usual attire. Standing side by side, you could see how he and the women could be -and probably were- related.

Standing in front of the women and man was a young girl, probably eight or nine years old, with short, light brown hair, bright violet eyes, wearing a shirt with a picture of a white fox and an orange fox that side, "I (heart) Foxes!" down in orange and outlined in white while the background of the fabric was in forest green and arctic blue, swirled around almost randomly. The closer you looked, though, the more you could see how it vaguely resembled the yin-and-yang symbol.

"Is that you and you're family?" he asked, indicating the picture.

Jenna flinched. "Y-yeah. . . it is. . ." she replied quietly, reluctantly, as if the picture would disappear if she spoke to loud.

"So, you're related to Old-I mean, _Mr._ Joans?" he slowly pointed to the older man. "He's really nice."

She nodded hesitantly, pulling the picture away from his hand a little. "Yeah, he is . . ." her fingers brushed the figures who must be her parents before drawing back again, tears flooding and falling from her eyes, her shoulder shaking with silent sobs. '_No, I will not cry . . . not here, not now . . . If anyone sees me weak . . . I'll just get picked on more later on . . ._' she thought to herself, trying to hold it in, but unable to.

Randy, beginning to feel uncomfortable with being with an emotional teenage girl, tried to think of what to do to calm her down. He put his arm around her shoulder slowly, waiting to see if she was okay with that before gently pulling her closer in a half hug.

"Hey now, its okay. Uh, do you want to tell me what the problem is?" he asked hesitantly, seeing how she clutched the picture to her.

Jenna shook her head "no", subconsciously leaning into him, wanting comfort from physical contact but not sure how to ask anyone. "Not really. . . "she replied softly, clutching the photo closer.

Randy shifted a little so he could use his other arm, waving his hand a little in her face. She jerked back a little, nearly banging her head on the wall as she turned to look at him.

"If it's a secret, I promise not to tell anyone . . . okay? I just want to help." he told her, putting his sincere-ness in his voice.

She seemed to think, then, hesitantly, she nodded. "Okay . . . but don't. Tell. Anyone." she ground out stiffly and stonily. Randy could gather from her tone alone that to tell anyone else would probably be the equivalent to signing a death wish.

"I promise. My lips are sealed." he told her, using his free right hand to draw his fingers across his lips, like closing a zipper, before pretending to flick the zipper tab aside.

She nodded, snuggling a little closer. She either didn't realize or didn't care how uncomfortable this was making Randy feel. He wasn't sure exactly what she thought of him. Her reactions to him when they first met, to the fight with the Mantis, what he'd heard about her fight with Bash, and now . . . all this _snuggling_ she was doing. He honestly wasn't sure what to expect from her by now, as her personality seemed to change like the wind.

She took a deep breath, and released it slowly. "W-well . . . these two people," she pointed to the unidentified man and women in the picture, holding it out with a shaking hand, "They're my mom and dad . . . I. . . I haven't seen them in awhile, and, well . . . it just _hurts_. . ." she finished, fresh tears falling down her face.

Randy subtly tightened his grasp on her shoulders. This seemed to be deeper than her folks just going on a business trip. _WAY_ deeper. He waited silently for her to continue.

"I-I haven't seen them since Chr-Christmas Eve . . . th-they . . . it was sn-snowing hard, a-and . . . th-they were trying to . . .to . . ." she gave up, her throat tight and chest hurting. She twisted around to cry into Randy's chest, forgetting for the moment that he was there, taking a small amount of comfort in the fact that _someone_ was there for her, let alone who.

Randy, on the other hand, had frozen. He hadn't quite foreseen this, though he probably should have. And what she had said, even though she hadn't finished, spoke more to why she was so upset. From what he could guess, her parents weren't around anymore, and had been gone for about a month. Slowly, he unfroze, and gently rubbed her back with his spare arm, like how he'd seen in movies and on tv.

"Hey, it's okay . . ." he said quietly.

"No it's not . . ." was her muffled response into his chest.

Randy wasn't sure exactly what to say. "Wh-what happened?" he asked, then immediately regretted it.

Jenna didn't really move much except to pull her head back a little from his chest, to make her words clear. "It was all m-my fault . . ." she mumbled.

Randy blinked. "I'm sure it-" he began, but she interrupted him.

"No!" she snapped, suddenly hostile. "It's _not_ okay! I left it behind and they went back to get it for me! If I hadn't forgotten it, then they never would've gotten into an accident! _IT'S ALL MY FAULT_!?" she shouted at him. Tears filled her eyes, and she buried her face back into his chest.

"It's all my fault . . ." she whimpered quietly, the sound muffled and difficult to make out. Randy was able to, though.

* * *

**Okay, so, I made this extremely fluffy scene between Randy and Jenna. Any thoughts on it?**


	8. , , ,Especially With Blackmail Material

**Time to answer those reviewers questions and such. But first off, thanks for stickin' with me! This is, admittedly, my first RC9GN fic, and I'm just so, so glad that it's currently a hit.**

Endeavor4ever**: Thanks! And, may I ask, in what way do I write them that you like so much? And, don't worry, the work shalt stay up any way I can make it. ;-D**

Nomi Norisu**: Thanks! Yeah, I was just in the mood for something really fluffy and ended up with that, besides kinda showing Jenna's more vulnerable side.**

yukiandkyo**: Thanks so much! The other characters will come soon. As for the animals. . . well, Dark is a Darrmask, a dragon-like creature of my own creation, Fire is actually a Tengu(originally in the show) Water is a Kelpient, a creature of my own creation(is based on Kelpies and Sea serpents) Air is a Pegahorse, (which will be explained and re-described eventually) Light is a Moon-bat, a creature of my own creation, as well as the Badgerbear.**

**The Cowboy actually left behind a bandanna, the hat you're referring to is the red on in the middle of the cover of "his" book, the Tome of Air(like the Ninja Nomicon or Warrior Washira) and, sad to say, I don't really know who this "Messenger" is, but if you can tell me in another review of pm where a good reference episode is, I will be able to consider adding that.**

Elcall**: Oh, don't worry, it'll be revealed before to long. I've already decided who they are(no spoilers just yet! Though you can guess at who they are)  
And you're welcome over the suit stuff. I try to make it clear whats going(that would be a clue/hint! If I don't explain/reveal something fully, there's a pretty good chance that there's soemthing major gonna happen there!)**

**Yeah, the Randy/Jenna moment in the alley wasn't really meant to be romantic, it was more to show that although Jenna projects this helping, "I don't need help" sort of image/attitude, she actually wants the companionship of others. And no, I don't ship them together! I've already chosen who they'll end up with.**

**Actually, to say that the first Defending Six are books is a little inaccurate. Sure, their spirits are housed in books, but any book, if well preserved (the magic they wield is the best kind of preserver) can last forever. And in the flashback, they weren't quite a full-on family/team yet, as was shown in the very first chapter. They're a few years younger than that in the flashback shown last chapter.**

Han-nomics**: Hello back to you. :-)**

**Okay, so, I made this extremely fluffy scene between Randy and Jenna last chapter. Not sure exactly what I was thinking when I wrote that(and this) particular bit out.**

** I guess I wanted to show that there's more to Jenna than meets the eyes; that beneath the tough, "I-don't-care-what-others-think-of-me-attitude" exterior everyone else sees, there's a vulnerable, insecure, _child-like_ side to her that she doesn't reveal too often because she usually doesn't get the companionship she's looking for.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 8:** , , ,Especially With Blackmail Material

* * *

Randy's jaw had dropped. He thought it might be something like this, but to actually hear it. . . and she blamed herself for it, too . . . He gently, yet firmly, tightened his grip on her, hugging her. "Hey," he said softly. "Could you look up at me?" he asked gently, keeping his voice down.

She slowly complied.

"I know you think its you're fault, but it's not," he continued. "And beating yourself up over it will only make you feel worse. You had no way of knowing that would happen, and neither did they. If you really want to blame something, then blame the weather. But holding all of that pain will only make it hurt more. Ya'know?" he finished, giving her a small smile.

She didn't reply, looking down at the spot where her tears had soaked through his shirt. "I . . . I guess you're right. Thank you." she said at last, timidly, quietly, looking up at him with a tiny, grateful smile. Still feeling insecure, she gave him a hug back, and he returned it gently.

"You're welcome, Jenna." he returned with a small smile.

The moment was quickly ruined, however, when the flash and _click_ of a camera came from a little farther up the alley. Both snapped their heads to the right to see none other than Howard sauntering through the door out of the Gamehole, his cellphone in hand. He waved it none-to-causally from side to side, a smug look on his face. Randy nearly pushed Jenna off and stood, but with how her grip had increased on him and the talk they just had, he realized that it probably wouldn't go over so well.

"Well, I can see that you've been busted. See it and weep." he turned his phone so they could see the pic he'd taken. It showed Randy and Jenna hugging, Jenna's face tucked into Randy's chest and his chin on the top of her head.

Randy blushed. "Howard! Delete! That! _Photo_!?" he demanded, feeling a little, no, a_ lot_ embarrassed by the implications the photo held. Sure, it wasn't anything romantic, but without the context, for what anyone else knew, it _was_ a romantic , on the other hand, wasn't sure how to react. She didn't really see the harm in the photo that'd been taken, but was more concerned with how much the chubby boy had heard.

She _really_ didn't want anyone else to know about that. Narrowing her eyes, she halfheartedly demanded, "How much did you hear?" it came out more timid than the other two boys thought it would.

From what Randy could see of her expression, she seemed to _want_ to get mad at Howard, but _couldn't_ for some reason. From her tone, it sounded like she was hoping for someone else to deal with it while she couldn't. Randy quickly realized that she was, in a way, relying on him to get take care of the issue. Gently pulling her off, he stood, pulling her to her feet as he did.

"Oh, I heard everything, little miss Sally sob-story," Howard replied smugly and accusingly, narrowing his eyes. "And I can see right through you!" he exclaimed, pointing at her.

Jenna stiffened, beginning to step closer to Randy, but Howard immediately darted in the way, keeping between the two. "Hey!" she cried out indignantly, starting to get a little twitchy, body beginning to shake.

"No way am I letting you steal my biffer away!" Howard continued sharply. "You obviously want to separate us with all your fake romance nonsense,"

"Howard," Randy tried to interject, but couldn't stop the freight train of angry accusations that Howard was conducting.

"You can thank me later, buddy," he half-whispered to him. "And with this evidence," he waved the picture around again, "I can easily hand it over to the schools top gossip reporter. And then everyone will know the big secret, and Theresa will go after you and pound you to a pulp for sure. How'do'ya like me now, Jen_na_." Howard finished, crossing his arms with a challenging, confident smirk.

Jenna's trembling increased, her hands clenched into fists as she flat out glared at Howard. "If you dare tell anyone, I will personally throw you off the top of the school building tomorrow." she informed him flatly, with an undertone of pained betrayal, before turning sharply on her heel and marching away down the alley.

"Ha! I knew it! Da dada duh duh DAH!" Howard did a small victory dance, but Randy punched him in the shoulder, and tried to grab Howard's phone. Howard, however, managed to hold onto it long enough and sent the picture to Randy's phone before his friend snatched it out of his hands. Randy quickly deleted the photo, not noticing when his phone vibrated and ding-donged, the typical response to getting a text from his biffer.

"Why would you do that! I just saved your cheese and this is how you thank me?!" Howard demanded, deciding to keep the sent picture a secret; for now.

"My cheese didn't _need_ saving!?" Randy returned sharply. "Jenna told me something really personal and painful, all right? And she made me promise not to tell anyone. I don't think she has any real friends." as Randy said those words, he realized that they were true. Over the past week, he and a few other students(he'd heard from them through the social grapevine) had noticed how she helped out the other students and even the staff, but that was it; it never went any farther than helping.

Randy glanced around, ignoring his biffer for a moment to scan the alley. Soon spotting Jenna much farther down, he grabbed Howard's arm and dragged him along towards her. "You're going to apologize to her." he informed his friend coldly and seriously. Then, he paused, spotting something.

It was the picture Jenna had been holding. She must've dropped it. Picking it up, he turned it over, catching a bit of writing on the back. With different inks, and in different handwriting's, a single sentence had been formed.

"_Ohana mean **family**. Family means that _**no one**_ gets left behind, or _**forgotten**_._" Afterwards, all the inks with the corresponding handwriting's had signed their names.

"Jack" done in green and "Wilma" done in dark purple. Both had a small, sloppily drawn sandy-gold-glitter-ink heart around them. Then there was "Poppy Jonas" in neat print and black ink, followed after by a fancy cursive lavender signature that could be just made out as "Uncle Willem Nice-roy". Lastly, in sandy-gold glitter-ink was "jEnnAfErn", in a scrawled, little kid-ish handwriting. The last thing after the phrase and names was a date; 12-25-08, about five years ago.

Jenna, at this point, was walled in, a chain link fence blocking the alley. No biggie; except there was barbed wire strung across the top. Either way, she was climbing it. She'd dealt with this stuff before. She was already starting to scramble over it when Randy and Howard came within hearing distance. She paused, moving down a few inches so she wouldn't be directly on top of the barbed wire as she looked down at them, suspicious, though a small part of her still wanted the comfort of another person.

"What do you want?" she demanded halfheartedly, not really in the mood anymore to fight. She was more interested in flight, rather than fight, at this point. So, she hung almost lazily off of the fence, holding on with one hand and foot while she let the other swing in empty space, her other hand going into her coat pocket.

Randy held up the picture first. "Well, you kinda dropped this, and second, Howard has something to say to you." he called up to her, pushing his buddy closer to the fence.

Howard groaned, but walked closer anyway. "I . . . I'm sorry for trying to blackmail you, but look!" he held up his phone. "I deleted the picture, and I didn't really hear what you said. All I heard was you crying and saw you all cuddled-up with my bro." he explained truthfully.

Jenna considered his words, slowly shimmying back down the fence. "Apology accepted, I guess." she muttered out, delicately taking the picture from him.

Randy gently laid a hand on the shorter teens shoulder, getting her to look up at him. "If. . . you want, we could, ah, go do something fun . . . you know, as. . . friends . ?" he seemed either hesitant to ask, or not quite sure how too.

Jenna guessed the second one. She knew that most (if not all) people saw her as the person who offered protection, who helped out with seemingly small tasks, encouraged others when they felt down, and was completely unfazed by others opinions of her. At least, that's what was starting. She wasn't deaf, and she knew, for the most part, what the general population of the students thought of her.

It was actually rather rare that she just opened herself up like this. There were a lot of small things hidden in the depths of her memories, small things that she knew would become huge if other people here found out. At the very least, Jenna wanted to delay it as long as possible, maybe get some actual friends who had unbiased opinions of her before something big came up that would change how they saw her.

Finally, after a few moments of quiet thinking, she nodded. "O-okay then . . . perhaps we could go to the park or something, though?" she asked hesitantly, a bit timidly, not wanting to force or take advantage of someone else; unsure where to draw the line between letting someone else choose for her and taking charge of her own adventures. It was definitely difficult, to say the least.

Just as Randy opened his mouth to reply, he was cut off by a scream nearby, as well as thumping footsteps, the wrenching of twisted metal, and the shattering of breaking glass. A robot stepped into view from the street beyond the alley fence.

There was something truly sinister about the bot. It was a darker shade of gray than the usual McFist Industries dull pewter and it glowed yellow instead of green. Ranging at twelve feet tall, the humanoid hulk would have been taller yet if it was not bent over. Its knuckles scraped the ground as if its arms were too heavy to walk upright. The robot didn't even have a head; a digital face was displayed on its chest.

Jenna backed up as it turned its gaze on them, holding her arms out defensively in front of the two boys, a snarl twisting her features into something you wouldn't want to mess with. Only her wide, scared violet eyes showed how she really felt about this robot. It seemed to reach for them, then turned and continued to their right, going down the street.

It was Ninja o'clock, but Jenna was there; and while she had guessed correctly last week that he was the Ninja, he didn't want to confirm that for her. Howard seemed to understand, though, and grabbed Jenna's hand and dragging her back down the alley and into the Gamehole's back exit. Randy made sure no one else was around once they were inside before pulling on the mask.

He was about to take off when he noticed something fluttering in the air near the door. Instinctively, he snatched it out of the air before tucking it into his belt. It was Jenna's special family picture, and there wasn't time to return it now. He could do it later, he decided, climbing up the building and running in the robots direction. Howard, meanwhile, had lost track of Jenna. The moment they were back in the arcade, she'd disappeared to who knows where.

Jenna had slipped back into the alley a few minutes after Howard dragged her inside. Racing down, she scaled the fence and slipped over the barbed wire unharmed, in one fluid, practiced motion. Once on the other side, she pulled on the mask. After the suit covered her, she clambered up onto a nearby building and began to run in the direction of the robot, only to find something she hadn't really expected.

The robot had started playing ballet music and started clumsily doing ballet. What had seemed like a serious situation was now hilarious to Randy. He found it so funny that he actually doubled up with laughter and had to kneel on the ground. "Oh. My. Cheese!" He got out in between laughter.

The problem with an unbalanced robot is that it tends to run into things. With every spin, the bot crashed into one building or another. Finally, it ran into the building the Ninja was on; Randy lost his balance and tipped over the edge he had been kneeling too close to.

Jenna reacted on impulse and instinct. Lunging, she threw her scarf so it wrapped around a street light and grabbed Randy's arm, swinging them onto a not-yet-damaged building. He stumbled back in surprise, taking in the sight before him. In front of him was a girl in a suit similar to his, but there were enough differences to tell them apart pretty easily.

First, her suit was a more darkish grey color with navy blue markings. Second, the markings were more wavy and never straight, a wave-in-a-circle symbol over her heart where he had the Norisu "9" symbol. A navy blue strip of fabric, similar to his scarf, fluttered at her left hip.

Where the Ninja's under-the-eyes-markings were straight, she had blue tear/rain drop-shaped markings underneath, four under the left and five under the right, giving a false appearance of crying. Where there was open space over his nose and that small part of his face, her's was covered with a see-through, blue tinted cloth-like material, the same kind making her gloves webbed at the fingers.

All in all, this was an unexpected yet welcome turn of events. He gave a quick wave. "Hello, fellow fighter. I am the Ninja of Norrisville. I assume you are the Warrior?" he asked in his "hero" voice.

She rolled her eyes, which now appeared to be a shimmery blue-purple in color. "That I am, Ninja." she replied; except it only came out as a sort of cross between and grunt and a warble, but agreeing, at least.

Randy stared at her. "Uh. . . hello? Do you understand English?" he asked, not entirely sure why she didn't speak.

Jenna nodded in return, shrugging with a low grunt before pointing toward the robot with an aggressive growl, narrowing her eyes.

The Ninja nodded. "Right, we can save the chitchat for later. Let's do this!" he declared, drawing his sword and eyeing the robot, the doodles directing him to the best angle of attack. The robot had swapped to a different, upbeat music, break dancing in the street. The Ninja took it, beginning his usual routine of slashing and leaping.

The Warrior, however, sought a different approach. She followed the Ninja onto the robot, but instead only drew a dagger to help her keep her grip the robot started spinning and the like so she wouldn't fall off. Before to long, she found an unprotected panel near where the head would be. Yanking on the latch, she grunted loudly to get the Ninja's attention.

When that didn't work, she took one of the orbs she'd practiced with (the fetching ball) and threw it at him, finally getting him to come over. "What is it?!" he initially demanded, then saw the panel. "Oh, oh, I gotcha now." he finished, both working together to lift it -it was rather heavy, even for him- as the robot started to do the hula.

Looking in, they could actually see that there was quite a bit of space down there to move around, like, about a living room-plus-kitchen-plus-bedrooms worth of space, a maze of walls hooked up with important wires spread throughout. Going in, Jenna handed Randy the end of her belt-scarf. Once inside, she started hurling throwing-stars at every spot she thought would help among the wires, hoping to get lucky and hit the right one.

Before long, she did, but it ended with some unforeseen consequences.

The robot lurched unexpectedly forward, pitching the Ninja headfirst into the hole, landing on top of the Warrior at the bottom. The whole thing fell over with a loud, clanging and clanking **THUD** on the street. The top of the panel fell closed with an echoing _CLANG_, sealing the two defenders in total darkness. Meanwhile, in the hovercraft, McFist used the magnetic tractor beam to lift the robots remains inside for Viceroy to fix later at McFist industries.

The two teens were trapped. In the middle of a deathtrap just waiting to be sprung.

* * *

**Okay, all credit for the robot goes to** Endeavor4ever**. The single tweaks I made was the wiring room under the panel and the hula dancing stuff. The rest is all her.**


	9. Trapped

**I am back! sorry for the wait, I was really busy. Time to answer some reviews. :-)**

Nomi Norisu**: Thanks so much!**

Endeavor4ever**: Thanks! Yeah, I try to keep everyone in character, but it was, admittedly, kinda fun to write up that scene between Jenna and Randy. It was fun to write up his reactions and thoughts and then Howards assumptions and stuff. He apologized mostly because he saw that he'd crossed the line and what not.**

Elcall**: Thanks! As for Julian being the Magician of Darkness, well, spoiler alert! You're correct! Be free to keep guessing!**

**Well, that's that. :-) Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9:** Trapped

* * *

Randy breathed hard, struggling to get the air back that'd been knocked out of him as he blinked in total darkness. Realizing, however, that what he was lying on wasn't a metal pole, pipe or the like, he scrambled off. Jenna sat up slowly, rubbing her stomach. He'd landed, stomach-first, right on her back, making her loose her own breath smashing her stomach against the metal floor. Ouch, not fun.

"Sorry. . . didn't mean to land on you. . ." he apologized, pulling out a Ninja Glow Ball to illuminate the space they were in. It literally looked like a maze in there, both of them being at the square of four different pathways. The Warrior blinked, squinting in the unexpected sudden light, breathing hard, and looked around with a bit of panic. She stood quickly, fingers twitching a little as she twisted one way, then another, trying to see where they were or a way out.

The Ninja was doing the same, but in a less panicked and more level-headed way. "Well, that was unexpected. No worries though, we just have to climb up to the panel and slice our way out." he said calmly, then seemed to notice the Warriors more frantic behavior.

He gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what's up? This your first fight or something?" he asked. "It's cool to be nervous. . . I, admittedly, got p'wned during my first fight." he told her.

She sighed, looking back up. "I hate being trapped in the dark. . . I can't see if anything is sneaking up on me, ready to kill . . . ." she half-whispered; surprisingly, it came out as words and not as a grunt or something.

Randy blinked in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that answer. He made her look up at him. "Don't worry, I've been in similar positions like this. We'll get out, and we have eachothers back, anyhow; nothing can sneak up on us!" he exclaimed confidently.

She nodded in return, brief panic fading away as she more closely looked around. "What should we do first?" she asked; or tried to. It came out as questioning, trilling growl.

Randy half-groaned. "Why don't you speak in words?" he demanded, frustrated. This was going to be difficult, he could tell, learning to work with that.

She shrugged, tapping her throat and the top of her head with a shake "no" of her head, then her heart and mouth with a nod "yes". It was the best she could do to explain.

Randy blinked. ". . . right. Let's figure that out later and work on getting out so there can _be_ a later." seeing her look of confused panic, he quickly added, "I have an arch-nemesis who likes to use robots and stuff. Don't worry, I beat him all the time; and with you're help, it'll just get easier." he assured her.

She nodded in response, taking out a Glow Ball of her own; the one she held changed from a pale blue-whitish glow to a dark blue, and Randy's changed to a soft red. In a (long) moment of curiosity, they spent the better part of five minutes toying around with the color-changing thing, to see how it worked or how far it would go.

What they determined in the end was that if they drew it from their belt when the other person had one out, both changed to their own colors. If they set it down, it would remain the color of the last holder. If the other picked it up, it changed to the original pale blue-white before turning to the current holders color. If they set one down and held it for three seconds before letting go, it'd change to the original, or "Neutral" coloration. It did the same thing if one person tucked theirs away into their belt; the other persons would go back to Neutral.

They had just finished toying around with this new, interesting feature when the opening lyrics for "Silhouette" by Owl City began to play all of a sudden, then cut off. The Warrior patted at her midsection, as if trying to figure out how to access something on or in the suit.

". . .was that your cellphone?" the Ninja asked presently, continuing after she nodded. "Oh, well, it's kinda easy to pull that sorta thing out . . . look." he pulled his suit open by an invisible seam down the middle of his chest, from collarbone to belt, just pulled up a little on one side before pulling out the Nomicon. "See? It was in my satchel, and I can pull it out like this." he finished, putting it back.

The Warrior nodded, repeating the action and pulling out an "unassuming" camo-colored phone that had two stickers and some writing on the back. One was a sparkly silver wolf, which sat at the bottom, snout pointed upwards in a howl. The next was a shiny, reflective golden crescent moon, at the very tippy-top, surrounded underneath by dozens of tiny, dark blue-grey stars. In between these was a phrase.

"_Aim for the moon; if you miss, at least you'll land among the stars._" done in bronze sharpie. Quickly, Jenna checked her texts and responded.

**_-=asdfghjkl=-_**

Uncle W**:** _Hey honey-baby, where you at?_

HoneyFern**:** _Hanging out with my new friends, I'll try to be home before dark, but, ya'know me. :-) ;-P_

Uncle W**:** _Alright then, I'm back at work now. Boss called(LAAAME, Lolz. [-_-'] whew, work really sucks sometimes)said it was an emergency. Sorry :'-(_

HoneyFern**:** _Naw, it's cool. See ya' laterz. ;-D_

_**-=asdfghjkl=-**_

The Warrior put the phone on vibrate and stashed it away quickly, giving the Ninja a quick thumbs up afterwards. They had little time to start looking for an exit, however, as the top of the panel suddenly began to crack open. Randy stashed the Glow Balls away, grabbing Jenna's arm and dragging her just out of sight as Robo-apes began to shimmy down inside and fix the wiring.

The Warrior wanted nothing more than to race past them and escape; this was going from bad to worse in terms of comfort and tolerance levels. Tapping the Ninja's shoulders, she gestured towards the entrance, then made chopping motions in the direction of the Robo-apes before making her hand zoom upwards, towards the exit.

" . . .so, you're saying we should make a run for the top, take out the Robo-apes, then go for the ceiling vents to escape?" he clarified swiftly, grinning beneath the mask as she nodded. "Let's do it." he agreed, drawing some Ninja Rings as she pulled out some Warrior Stars (as Randy called them in his head) before they scaled one "wall", silently heading for the exit, quietly taking the Robo-apes out as they went.

Hurrying up the metal ladder the Robo-apes used, the two partners peeked out, checking to see if the coast was clear. McFist and Viceroy were arguing not to far off, going on about who's fault it was.

"The robot wasn't _nearly_ ready yet! I've been working on it for about two months. In a few more weeks, it would've been ready. I even put up a sign!" Viceroy exclaimed, pointing to the ignored, "NOT READY: DO NOT ACTIVATE" sign nailed next to the platform the robot sat on.

McFist crossed his arms, not wanting to admit he was wrong nor say that it was Viceroy's fault for taking a vacation before the robot was finished. He _was_ the one that gave him that, after all, and for good reason. Finally, he threw his arms into the air with an irritated huff before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Just tell me what it was _supposed_ to do." he said resignedly.

Viceroy rolled his eyes and readjusted his glasses. "Well, it was supposed to act as a distraction. While the Ninja attempted to stop it, several smaller robots would zero in on his location to ensnare him, dragging him back to the Robo-dancer here," he pointed towards the partially-destroyed robot. "It doesn't have it yet, but the Ninja would be 'eaten', and held captive in it's head, which would then rocket out of there to deliver him straight to us!" he finished with a flourish.

McFist wasn't so sure. "How do you know that'll work?" he asked.

"I still need to review all of the latest tapes, but I think it worked; at least partially." Viceroy replied, beginning to lead them out of the room. "HE was distracted, after all . . ." that's all the two teens could hear as the men walked out of the room.

The Ninja and Warrior glanced at eachother. "Well, you definitely saved my cheese back there; let's get out of here while we can." he whispered, and she only nodded, eyes wide with shock.

She never would've guessed her Uncle was trying to destroy the Ninja. From everything she'd heard about the town hero from the other students, no one had a reason to dislike him at all. It made no sense, and she had no viable way of asking that wouldn't end badly for everyone.

So, she instead skittered out and began to creep along to the door. The Ninja had already leapt up to the cieling and began to pry off a vent when he saw her. "Psst! Up here!" he whisper-shouted to her.

She jerked in his direction, looking up. She gestured for him to climb in first, and after he did, she threw up her belt-scarf and started to haul herself up. Viceroy and McFist returned not to long after, arguing _again_. Jenna climbed faster, and soon, the two were sneaking through the vents, basically lost as they tried to find a way out.

It was especially difficult with the various booby traps that were set, and the cramped spaces, barely big to belly-crawl through, that had such traps. It was becoming tortuously slow going when they paused for a breather, both hungry and at their nerves ends from being on constant guard. Luckily, this particular vent was taller and wider; they could sit up, at least, without bumping their heads.

At that time, a little, electronic ditty rang out (sounding suspiciously like the Theme song tune of the Ninja), this time from the Ninja's uniform. He pulled out his cell and answered it. "Hello."

_"Cunningham, where are you?!"_ Howard demanded angrily on the other end.

"Sorry, buddy, it was Ninja Business. I met the Warrior though," he set it to speaker. "Say hi!"

She growled lowly, rolling her eyes as she lightly shoved him on the shoulder as Howard began to kinda freak out. _"Where are you?!"_ he repeated.

"Weeelllll, we're sorta navigating the vents in McFist industries. We've been trying to get out forever." Randy replied, having gotten it off of speaker phone.

Howard snorted. _"I'll say. It's four o'clock now; you've been gone for three hours."_ he replied.

Randy held his stomach as he heard a growl. "That would explain why I'm so hungry." he groaned.

Jenna had to agree with him, rubbing her stomach to try and make the burning hungry feeling in it go away.

Howard didn't speak for a few moments. _"Just, come to my place afterwards. I'll cover for you if you're still there for a couple more hours . . . what should I tell Jenna?"_ he asked.

Randy blinked. "Wait, what?"

_"Jenna, you know? Short girl, brown hair, camo coat and boots, a seriously overdone bravery condition? She disappeared after we, correction, _**I**_, dragged her into the arcade, and I'm still here. If she asks, what should I tell her?"_ Howard elaborated, sarcastic at first, before letting it dissolve into seriousness.

Randy's mind flailed about for an answer for a moment. " . . .just, well . . . tell her I . . .um . . ." Randy stalled.

You could literally hear Howard as he face palmed through the phone._ "I'll just tell her that your parents called or some juice and told you to pick up some things, happy?"_ Howard demanded.

Randy nodded, then spoke aloud. "Yes, thanks buddy." he said gratefully.

_"Don't mention it Cunningham, just a-_don't_. Later."_ Howard replied, sounding annoyed yet half amused at the same time.

"Later." Randy replied, hanging up and tucking his phone away.

Jenna, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how the heck they were going to get out. She was hungry, becoming rather agitated with the cramped spaces and booby traps, and couldn't even make small talk with her new partner to try and pass the time.

"Well, I guess we should . . . keep going?" Randy suggested.

Jenna nodded and warbled tiredly in response, taking point and beginning to crawl forward again, on her hands and knees. Randy followed, and they crawled around, sometimes on their stomach and only once actually walking for the next couple of hours.

Both were starving, exhausted, and ready to just fall asleep right then and there when Randy heard something. "Do you hear that?" Jenna was currently in the lead, both crawling on all fours at the time in the narrow vent.

Jenna paused, the pointed ahead, pressing against one side of the vent so he could see. It looked like there was a grate or something up ahead; a way out. Moving faster, they crouched side by side in front of it, trying to see where it lead to. It was hard, because the slats on the grate were really close together, plus it was dark in there.

The sound they had heard was the wind, so they knew for sure that it lead out, but not much after that. Finally, just _done_ with the days events, Jenna leaned back and, put simply, punched the grate. While not opening it, she did leave a pretty decent dent in the metal. Whimpering and growl, she nursed her right hand, the knuckles in pain, but at least uninjured.

"That's gonna bruise . . ." she said, or tried to say, growls and whimpering replacing words.

Randy had stared, surprised and rather impressed with the strength she revealed, then shook himself. "Right, let's get out of here . . ." he muttered, pulling out a ninja ring and beginning to cut through the edges of the vent, loosening it. After a few minutes, they both crawled out, exhausted, hungry, beginning to get cold in the chill breeze as they flopped onto the roof outside of the vents, glad to be able to stretch.

They were on they very top of the building, the stars overhead. "I . . . never . . . want. . . to do that again . . . so hungry . . . " Randy groaned, holding his stomach as it began to complain again.

Jenna grunted in agreement, closing her eyes. She never liked cramped spaces to begin with, but with all the booby traps set up in there, she never wanted to be in a confined space like that ever again.

The Ninja finally stood, and helped the Warrior to their feet. "Thanks for all your help . . . will I be seeing you again around the school?" he asked.

The Warrior nodded, smiling beneath her mask, giving his hand a quick shake. Together, they jumped and slid down the building's slanted side, going their separate ways at the bottom.

Jenna came into her home at around six o'clock at night, and Randy got to Howard's place a few minutes before. Both enjoyed a large meal before doing what they liked.

For Randy, playing Grave-Punchers with his bro. For Jenna, she scribbled up something in a little poem-book of hers before climbing into bed.

* * *

**Okay, so, that finishes that up. Also, if anyone has any ideas on what the next fight scene should be, or who they think the other Elementals will, or where the other four books might be hidden, don't be afraid to send it over! Everyone gets a small shoutout over those things. Bye!**


	10. Maybe Friends , , ,

**Back again!**

Nomi Norisu**: Well, technically, no one's gotten a shout out just yet. I place the shout outs at the very bottom of the chapter so it's separate from answering reviews. And thanks for continuing to review!**

Elcall**: Yeah, I know. A combo of shores, homework, and a slight lack of inspiration slowed me down. Technically, that's where the Washira, book of water, was found. You need to consider the last four elements and where the core part of the element would be in Norrisville. And Yeah, I really like Julian, and the roll just seems to suit him.**

**Brent doesn't quite fit for the Cowboy of Air for at least two reasons. One, he's a metal-smith; metal is a heavier, more grounded part of the earth, so he'd struggle to fit into it. Two, I've already chosen his role and what he'll be doing later on in the story. Thanks for the ideas!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 10:** Maybe Friends . . .

* * *

Jenna walked into the words early that morning, at roughly 5:30 am. She was ready for school, which wouldn't start for a few hours. She had time. In one hand she had a few blue and pink flowers. After trekking through the woods for about half an hour, she came across a cemetery. Quite a few of the headstones were already faded, the words worn away to nothing by the elements.

She walked past them all, careful not to tread over the graves before coming across two, nestled side by side beneath a willow tree, nearly hidden by the long tresses. You can make out the engraved words with crystal clear clarity, from dates to names.

Wilma Joans and Jack Joans, from somewhere in the late sixties and early seventies to a month ago, on Christmas Eve. Grass was just barely beginning to grow, as well as a number of "weeds" that Jenna knew would be dandelions and "wishing puffballs" when spring fully hit. This particular warm spell would dissolve into one last snowfall before spring would actually arrive.

According to Poppy Jonas, at least. "Hi, it's me again," she held back tears. "I just wanted to let you know that since I started school last week, I made a friend! Kinda . . . I'm actually not sure if we are actually friends or not . . . but I'm trying, sorta, really hard! I . . ." she sighed. "I have to . . . go to school. Love you." she finished in a whisper, setting two hyacinths and two pink carnations on each of their graves, before putting gentle hands on the top of the gravestones.

For in the language of flowers, hyacinth means, "I am sorry, forgive me" and pink carnation, "I will never forget you".

She moved silently, walking out of the graveyard with tears in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. Once out of sight of the graveyard, now hidden from it by oaks, pines, poplars, and few willows and Douglas firs, she began to run, not caring for once as her bangs flew behind her, revealing her face. Allowing anyone to see what she always tried to hide.

* * *

Julian arrived at school at around 7:15 am. He'd decided to try and catch Jenna there, to apologize for his actions last Thursday. He really shouldn't have judged her like that. She practically helped everyone, after all, yet didn't seem to have a friend. He'd decided to try and change that. After the Monster Klub incident, he'd lost what trust he had in his friends.

Very few people liked him afterwards. One of his only friends was Theresa. He was thankful to have any friends, really. When he saw her in the hall by her locker, he walked over to introduce himself.

"Hello," he began, but she cut in before he could continue.

"Hi." she replied, half cheery and half tired. She shut her locker and shouldered her pack, turning to look at Julian. She blinked in surprise. "Oh, it's you. The Top-hat guy." there was a hint of a smile on her face before it fell into a thoughtful frown. "Those seniors aren't being jerks again, are they?" she asked, beginning to scowl.

Julian paused. _"Does she honestly think I'm talking to her just for protection?"_ he thought to himself, then shook his head "no".

"No, I wanted to apologize for my behavior last week. I should not have acted as I did, after you helped me. That was my error, and I so wish to be excused from it." he replied, with a small half bow.

Jenna tilted her head a little. "Oh, no worries. I forgive you," she didn't quite understand why he felt the need to apologize, not quite. "I-I'm used to helping everyone out, it's . . ." she stared at some thing only she could see in the distance. ". . .it's not big deal." she finished distantly, almost sadly. One hand slid into her left coat pocket, lightly rubbing against the silky feeling of her mask.

She'd lost her special picture the other day, and couldn't find it anywhere. Or at least, she hadn't had the chance, but somehow sensed that it wouldn't be there anymore, even if she did look.

Julian thought that she did sound kinda sad. "Are you alright?" he asked her, concerned. He couldn't see much of her eyes or expression, as her light brown hair hid most of her face.

Jenna snapped out of it and spoke quickly. "No, no, I'm alright, I'm . . ." tears came to her eyes. That picture held her only last good memories of her family! She couldn't just _lose_ it! " . . . I'm just fine." she finished, voice already choking up with tears. She turned away, yanking her hood up in a moment of insecurity.

Julian wasn't sure what to do, or if he did anything to upset her, but put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? You can tell me what's bothering you." he told her sincerely.

She sniffled quietly, wiping most of her tears away in one swift motion before turning back to face him. "I lost something really important yesterday, that I swore to myself I would never lose. I'm not sure if I'll ever find it again . . ." she admitted, forcing down another bout of crying.

Julian thought fast. "I could help you find it." he offered generously. "You've helped a lot of people so far, and you have only been here a week! I do say that it is about time someone helped _you_ for a change." he told her.

Jenna paused and looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time. " . . . really?" she asked, beginning to smile a sad smile. "Thanks, but I don't think that either of us will be able to find it. I . . .I was told once it was the thought that counted. . . I think it does here. Thanks."

Meanwhile, the Sorcerer cursed as his green stank came rushing back, mere moments from capturing a victim that would never release his magic; for there was nothing but emotion to attach to. The object was long gone, and memory was what she held most dear; nothing the Ninja destroyed would free the girl. Or at least, that's how it had happened once before. The Ninja had thwarted him _that_ time, too.

Julian grinned a little, revealing his fangs a little more than usual. "I'm glad that you are at least feeling better. My name is Julian. Julian Magico at your service." He bowed dramatically.

Jenna rolled her eyes a little, but still smiled. "And my name is Jennafern Joans, at your service, Julian Mah-GEE-coe." she replied with a smirk, doing nothing short of a mock salute.

He smiled at her, and started laughing. Soon, they were both cracking up and simply walking around the halls, talking and laughing about whatever really came to mind. Julian was also pointing out the various classrooms as they went, acting as a tour guide as well as a _friend_, as Jenna still hadn't memorized the schools layout.

"So, where next?" She asked curiously, "And what's all this I've been hearing about monsters? I uh, well, it _sounds_ kinda cool at least." she hadn't gotten the chance to ask anyone about it. She wasn't sure who to ask, as most everyone didn't really see her as a _person_ person. Sure, she was around, but people looked to her for assistance.

"We could go to the Main Lobby. The mosaic there is the pride and joy of the school! It's also where dances are held," Julian said cheerfully, walking down the hallway. He pointed out different classrooms as they passed them. "You want to know about the monsters?" Julian said slyly. "The truth is, we are all monsters!" The goth kid found that funny for some reason and laughed.

Jenna snorted and rolled her eyes, lightly shoving him in the shoulder. "Hardy har har, hilarious. But seriously, what's up with all I've been hearing about monsters?" She insisted.

"It's inescapable, nearly everyone has been transformed. Your inner monster is released and you take your revenge. Then the Ninja . . . _saves_ us," he said the word like he meant the exact opposite. "It's a freeing experience. To be able to do things you otherwise could not." Julian squinted his eyes, like he was trying to remember something long forgotten.

She quirked an eyebrow. "I've dealt with monsters in my old school. Only problem was, some were human and others only /looked/ human. Take Bash, but with a sharper tongue, knife, and bigger brain, for example." Jenna replied, a hint of sarcasm in her words.

Julian nodded sagely. "Tis the nature of humans. Ah, here we are." The main lobby was a large, open space. Its walls were blue and white, like the rest of the school, and in the middle of the floor was the mosaic: a carp. "The carp is Norrisville High's mascot," he explained.

"Weird, but cool. Doesn't look like a fish," she tapped the edge of the mural with her boot. "Looks like some sort of crazy water demon." She finished with a shudder. She felt something extremely off about the mural, for some reason. Something truly sinister, bad, _evil_ . . . mentally, Jenna decided to never touch the mural again if she could help it.

"Really? Hm. Would you like to see the gymnasium or the cafeteria next? It's been remodeled recently."

"Oh, uh, the uh, second one." she replied, not thinking to much on what he asked. She felt a few chills as she spotted the decorative gem in the center of the mural, that made the carps eye. For some reason, she felt repelled by it. She didn't like it one bit.

And, although she'd seen it before, she'd never gotten this feeling about it. . . . but why?

"As you wish." Julian led them through a set of doors. A minute later they were in the cafeteria. A few students were there ordering breakfast. All the tables were rectangular and blue, except for a red circular one in the middle.

"So, the color scheme is oceanic? Better than snowy crimson." Jenna commented approvingly. It really was better than her old town. Everyone but her family hated her, it seemed. No one really helped her, and she didn't have any friends.

"Snowy crimson?" Julian inquired, smiling just enough that his "fake" fangs were visible.

"Snow dripped with an innocent's blood. That was my old schools color scheme." Jenna's gaze and voice darkened. "Everything white with drops and smears of bright or dark crimson red. It always reminded me of blood scattered on snow, no matter what others said." Her tone bitter, eyes pained and angry. She didn't really want to touch upon and open those unhappy memories here.

"Sounds intriguing." Julian giggled. The bell rang and students exited the cafeteria, heading for first hour. "Can I count on seeing you later, Jenna?"

Jenna quirked an eyebrow at his response. "You're unpredictable; in the good sorta way. I'm free during lunch. Later!" With that, she dashed off to first period.

Randy and Howard were already in their seats. Jenna paused a second before sliding into her seat. She remained quiet throughout the class periods, doodling in her notebook after finishing her school work.

She kept thinking over Julians words. "Snowy Crimson" Was intriguing to him? 'Guess it would be . . . he doesn't know the meaning behind the words . . . no, I told him . . . sorta . . . .' she thought to herself absently, not really paying attention to the teacher droning on about math or some junk . . . she didn't particularly like math.

* * *

They had just finished Spanish when the bell rang for lunch. The duo were the first ones out the door; lunch was their favorite hour. Today's menu was either sloppy joe or chicken patty. Jenna and Randy were next to each other once Randy was out of the line. Jenna had her lunch bag in her hand, and only grabbed a chocolate milk. Randy was thinking over the lesson the Nomicon had showed him and Jenna.

Was she the Warrior? Was it worth it to reveal his identity to her? What if she wasn't the Warrior and she told other people? Jenna was currently thinking about friends in general. How, in an abstract way, they were like her family; they tried to make her happy when she was feeling sad,

Meanwhile, Julian was waving at Jenna from his table. Since the Klub had disassembled, Julian sat with Theresa and Juggo still, but also flute girl and a few others.

"Hey, Julian." Jenna called, sitting across from him, the only empty spot. She gave a little wave to the others at the table.

Theresa, though Jenna did not know her name, smiled. Others were indifferent; if she wanted to ruin her rep by sitting here that was fine with them.

"I'm overjoyed that you are able to sit with us," Julian beamed. The goth had only brought a sandwich to lunch.

Jenna shrugged. "Don't really see why. Back home jerks picked on the new kids. And whoever tried to be nice to them." She replied nonchalantly enough, the few drops of sarcasm making it harder to find the truth. People picked on her more whenever she tried to help the new kids. On the other hand, she helped everyone and got beat up more because of it.

"You're the one who beat Bash Johnson last week, aren't you?" Theresa asked shyly; she was sitting next to Julian.

Jenna nodded, taking out a sun-butter and honey sandwich. "Yeah. . . I didn't really want to fight him, though." she replied.

Most everyone at the table stopped what they were doing. "Say what now?!" demanded Flute Girl.

"What do you mean you didn't want to fight him?! You walked right up and did it!?" exclaimed Juggo.

"Th-then why did you do it?" Theresa asked, confused, while Julian eyed her, a small, thoughtful frown on his face.

"B-because he was hurting someone else. Someone had to do something, and everyone else was walking away. They were ignoring the bad and I decided not to. I had to help." _'Because even though no one helped me, doesn't mean I have to be like them . . .' _she thought to herself.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"You've helped me before." Juggo spoke up. "When Steven was bullying me."

"And she a-helped me, too, when Bash and the-uh others took my accordion." Accordion Dave spoke up.

Soon, others, more than half the people at the table, said something that Jenna had done to help them out in the short time she'd been there. Blushing a light shade of pink at all the attention, though mostly-hidden by her bangs, Jenna only replied with quiet thanks here and there.

Soon, everything had settled, and Jenna began to eat at her lunch, no longer feeling especially hungry.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Howard was scolding his friend.

"Will you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" Randy asked gloomily.

"Turning around to stare at them!" Howard waved a hand. "Who cares if she decided to sit with that shoob! It's always been just us."

"I know but. . ."

"No buts!" Randy pushed his food away, no longer hungry. He still had to find a way to return her picture; he wasn't quite sure how to do it while explaining where he'd gone during the robot attack. He wasn't sure how to make it believable, as she was already sharp; she'd figured out his identity after they'd just met, and his own best friend never had a clue!

Jenna ate her lunch in under five minutes, and the others weren't even half way done. She didn't want to just leave Julian behind, as she thought they were friends, but she was uncomfortable with waiting around. This was also, quite literally, her first time in the cafeteria since she'd been there at the school.

Turning to the girl next to Julian, she said, "My names Jennafern, what's yours?" She asked, offering a smile to try and mask how unsure she was.

"My name's Theresa Fowler," she replied while simultaneously twirling her baton. "You going to be doing any sports this year?"

"Not sure. With all the exploring I plan on doing, there won't really be time. I also banged up my knuckles yesterday," the knuckles on her right hand were bruised blue and purple still; probably not a good thing. _'That's what I get for punching a metal grate with all my might . . . kinda worth it, seeing Ninjas eyes bug out, though.'_ she thought privately.

"That's too bad," Theresa said with sympathy.

"Did you say. . . exploring?" Julian asked with excitement, leaning closer to her.

Jenna nodded, a genuine smile coming to her face. "Yep. I just moved here, which means lots more places to find, and fun to be had." She answered, hope, happiness, and oddly enough, relief in her voice.

"There are so many wonderful places to explore! Graveyards, abandoned buildings, old libraries. . . " Julian listed.

Theresa rolled her eyes. "If you ever want some local help, you can ask me," she whispered. Ever since Twirl Team was disbanded, Theresa didn't hang with girls very often. Secretly, she hoped that she could find a friend in Jenna.

"Abandoned buildings and old libraries sound cool, but, graveyards?" Jenna shuddered. "I'm not one to disturb the dead. Besides, exploring _on_ the map is first," she looked between Theresa and Julian. "So it's safe to say I'd need _both_ of your guys's help." She finished with a hopeful smile. What she was really hoping for was that she'd found friendship in these two people.

Julian clapped enthusiastically.

"Do you have a phone? We could swap numbers to keep in touch." Questioned Theresa hopefully.

"Sure, that's okay." Jenna relented, not exactly sure how to input numbers on her phone.

That'd be great! We could go to the park, or whoopee world, or the lake!" Theresa exclaimed. "We actually have a lake right behind the school, hard to believe right?"

"Wow, really?" Jenna hadn't quite finished her exploration of the school grounds. "Do you think you'd be able to swim there?" she had a plan, something she hoped would help her out.

"Lake LaRusso? I bet it would be. The wave slayer relays take place there, but during off-season it's relatively empty," Theresa pondered the statement. "OMJ are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I highly doubt we think alike. I'm more for shadowed woods fulla wolves than sparkly fields of rainbow unicorns." Jenna drawled good humoredly, grinning.

Jenna's remark didn't put a damper on the baton twirler's excitement. "You mean you don't want to go swimsuit shopping and then swimming?"

Julian had become withdrawn after the topic of conversation had moved away from dark, creepy places. Finishing his sandwich, he pushed two die around on the tabletop.

"Um, I have a suit," Jenna conceded hesitantly, glancing to Julian. "Come on, Julian. Think about all the spooky monsters that could be lurking in the dark waters of the lake." She tried to cheer him up, cringing. She didn't want to leave him out, but she was half-hoping to go alone. Because of what happened yesterday, she never got the chance to finish her weekly ritual. She was hoping to do that . . .

"It'd be fun." She tried to hide her slight unease. "And besides, we can explore somewhere of your choice tomorrow, if you want." She added. She didn't really want to leave anyone out.

"There is poetry reading on Wednesdays at the downtown bookstore," he suggested. Theresa sighed.

"Not this again! Last time you went, you were a mess because the honking dog died at the end Julian."

Julian looked insulted. "Was not!"

"That sounds like fun. Can you hand in a poem to be read?" Jenna interjected, feeling slightly relieved that the lake was dropped from the conversation.

"Of course!" Julian giggled, a habit that Theresa found irritating on occasion, yet Jenna found she kinda liked it. It was quirky but suited him. "Why, Miss Jenna, do you write poems?" he asked, the thought coming to him.

"A bit. It helps when you have no one to talk to." She replied with a shrug, pulling a dark blue, golden-star dotted notebook before handing it to them. She didn't really think anyone would question the implications of her words, and no one really did. Not to surprising for her there.

Inside the notebook, nearly cover to cover, were poems, each one with a date, going back to when she was 7 years old to just a month ago, notes scribbled in permanent golden red or silver marker next to the words. One in particular caught the goth's eyes.

It was entitled 'Snowy Crimson'.

_'Snowflakes falling all around,_  
_Drifting beautifully, softly, to the ground._  
_Silently floating in the chill breeze,_  
_Thousands more follow these._

_It's not as silent as it seems,_  
_A quiet crying slipping through the seams,_  
_Of a broken child in the snow,_

_As drops of liquid swiftly flow._  
_Weeping constantly, they cry,_

_Crimson drops staining snow as dye._  
_Awful injuries to the face, heart, and cheek,_  
_On a child once so meek._

_Snowy Crimson, all across the ground. . ._  
_Snowy Crimson, forming without a sound. . ._  
_Snowy Crimson, an injured child crying. . ._  
_Snow-y Crimson. . . .A lonesome child dying.'_

The date showed that it was written three years ago, and a few spots of paper were blurred slightly, by water. Julian and Theresa read the entry at the same time.

"That's so hardcore; it looks like the stuff people write in prison camps!" Theresa said. Julian, being a slower reader, hadn't finished yet.

Jenna shrugged, leaning over just enough to see which one it was, before lightly tapping the bridge of her nose through her bangs.

"I dunno, I was nine then; stuff was kinda crazy, and I. . . . " she didn't finish her thought, looking down again. Her tone had been cautious, even a bit afraid, 180 degree turn from her fearless, protective attitude people knew her by.

"You have obvious talent," Julian said, nodding his approval. "Is this what you were thinking about for Wednesday?"

"Well. . .not that one in particular. I mean, I wrote it when I was nine, and. . . ." She looked insecure as she tapped the spot again with a wince and shifted in her seat. She muttered something that sounded like, ". . . .remembering hurts. . . ."

Noticing her discomfort, Theresa tried to change the conversation. "So . . .do you like it here in Norrisville?" She had finished her lunch and was fiddling with her baton.

* * *

Jenna nodded. "I like it better than my old town. Nobody liked me." She replied, looking at the poem book for a half second before fiddling with her empty milk container.

"That's too bad. I think you're pretty bruce." Theresa smiled. "Right Jules?"

"Indeed! Jenna saved my hat last Thursday," confirmed Julian.

"Anyway, lunch will be over soon and I was wondering if you wanted to do the swimming thing today? Four-thirty-ish work for you?"

Jenna fidgeted, biting her lip hard as she thought. Reluctantly, she nodded. ". . .we might have to go buy a swimsuit, anyway. . . .Haven't worn my old one for. . .awhile." Jenna admitted.

Theresa squealed with excitment. "Ooo I love shopping! We should go to Marci's; they have sales going on right now. Wanna come with?" She turned to the pale boy.

"Too many people.. too open... I'll just wear my old one," he replied with a shiver. Julian tried to avoid crowds and open spaces at all costs.

"Open spaces. . ? No thank you! Never." Jenna said firmly, the bit of fear clear in her voice. She'd nearly finished crushing the empty milk container; finishing her sentence, she accidentally crushed it into the table.

"Julian is exaggerating, haven't you ever been to a mall before?" Theresa questioned. She was beginning to think the afternoon activity wasn't going to be possible.

"Um. . .not since I was ten? Or. . . .maybe nine?" Jenna replied uncertainly. "I got hurt, and, well. . . .I mostly dislike open spaces. . .nothing to dodge and duck around. . . ." Her voice had lowered, words clear with her uncertainty.

"But. . .I don't need a suit. I . . . Have clothes that I've swam in before. We don't have to go to the mall."

The baton twirler thought Jenna was on the strange side, but figured everyone had their secrets. "Ok, whatever works best for you."

The bell rung, and Jenna promised to be at the dock in the lake at 4:30, then vanished, leaving them with her poem book.

"Wait! You forgot your. . . book." Theresa looked unhappily at the poem book. Guess she'd have to take it with her. "Four thirty Jules, don't forget."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Later that day . . .

Jenna froze as she walked through the doors of the school with Julian, Howard, Randy and Theresa, laughing and joking. Her eyes widened with no small amount of horror and a good bit of fear. With a shrieking squawk of horrified terror, she darted back inside the building, leaving Julian, Theresa, Howard, and Randy to try and pick up the pieces.

Meanwhile, snowflakes drifted down gently, thickly blanketing the ground, getting harder by the second.

* * *

**Well, this ends it. I kinda surprised myself here. It's longer than my usual chapters, but I couldn't bring myself to cut it in half. Please review!**


	11. , , ,Are Family, Too

Nomi Norisu**: Here I am, new chapter! And thanks, too. Sorry it's been awhile.**

The Phoenix**: Thanks so much! I will keep on writing, besides encouraging others. :-D**

Elcall**: It's cool, you can do a suggestion or element thing after this chapter. Jenna's not exactly afraid of snow, per-say. You'll see soon. And thanks about the poem! I feel like it was ages ago when I wrote it.**

Endeavor4ever**: Naw, she didn't create the snow. You'll see soon. It's basically the last snowfall of the year before spring.**

AnakinRulz13**: I have updated again. Sorry that it took me a lifetime and them some. XD :-P**

* * *

**Chapter 11:** . . . Are Family, Too

* * *

Rachel, sometimes better known as Clarinet Girl, yelped as a blur of green and brown shot past her, skidding here and there before finally turning down a hallway and swerving out of sight. She was further confused when Julian, Theresa, Howard, and Randy came loping that way, calling out a name that people now knew well.

"Yo, Jenna, where'd ya' go?" Howard shouted, his voice echoing in the empty school. In the short time they'd been walking through the halls, he'd already grown hungry; he just wanted to find Jenna and get out of there.

"I think I saw her go down that hall." Rachel told them, pointing.

The other four teens called thanks while they made their way down. Within minutes, their voices had faded into the background, just heard. What Rachel could hear better, however, was stifled sobs and small, mournful whimpering noises. Frowning, the cheerful girl walked down a few halls to the library nearby.

Jenna was curled up in a small ball outside the Library doors, which were already locked for the day. Rachel looked at the crying girl, barely able to connect her to the brave freshman who successfully defeated one of the biggest bullies at the high school. She walked next to her and sat down. Jenna peeked up after a moment.

"R-Rachel?" she asked in a half-sobbing, half whisper.

Rachel nodded a little. "You okay, Fern?" Rachel returned. One reason why Rachel respected Jenna was the fact that she actually remembered her name, instead of calling her "Clarinet girl".

"N-no . . ." she replied. she sniffled and rubbed at her eyes, hood pulled up so as to hide her face.

"What's the matter?" Rachel asked softly, opting to put an arm around the other girls shoulders.

Jenna glanced up at her, then down at her shoes. "It's snowing . . .brought up . . . not so good memories. . . ." she got out, starting to cry harder. " . . . worst part is . . . .I lost the picture!" at this, Jenna loses control, curling into a tiny ball and sobbing.

In this moment, Randy, Theresa, Howard, and Julian appear around the corner. "Jenna!" Randy calls, before quickly noticing the green Stank magic starting to swirl around her.

"Oh, juice," he mutters, as Rachel leaps to her feet and backs up next to the others, Jenna already growing and transforming.

A giant, fiery orange fox, her tail engulfed in actual flames. Orange bangs covered her eyes, but there were scars on her face and muzzle; bald, pink lines replacing short fur. Her sleeves ripped, revealing several scars on her shoulders, most dangerously close to her neck, as well as several on her lower back and stomach, most running underneath the clothing. Standing on all fours, her muzzle would be about at Randy's eye-level, more or less.

One of her backpack straps tore, hanging loosely on her shoulders, her hood fell back from her flicking ears, and her pants ripped up to the knees, which now appeared backwards. It happened so quickly that none were quite sure that they were actually looking at Jenna. All of those scars . . . .

She growled, ears flattening, crouching low as if to pounce. They were blocking the only way out, and she didn't intend to get trapped. Randy had to get the others out of here.

"Let's go!" Theresa shouts, turning to run. Howard was quick to follow her, as well as Rachel and Julian. Randy glanced back, following more slowly. He made sure the others were gone before pulling open and hiding in a locker, pulling on the mask before leaping out again.

By this time, stank'd-Jenna had wandered slowly out of the hall, nose to the ground and apparently tracking something down. The building, having been locked up by now, was almost like a prison; they were trapped inside with a monster and were unsure if the Ninja was even around after school.

He jumped in front of her, hands held out. "Jenna, stop!" he shouted.

She flinched and growled, ears laid back and teeth bared.

He moved forward slowly. She backed away. He glanced quickly over her attire, and there was nothing stank'd, far as he could see. Nothing at all. "What the juice? What's been stank'd?" he muttered, trying to work his way to the side.

She suddenly snarled and lunged, tail moving as if to smack him, alit with flames. Randy dodged with a yelp, jumping up with his sword held out defensively.

"Jenna, calm down, please!" at the sword, she cringed, growling before turning tail and racing away. Randy groaned and chased after her, but quickly lost the trail. Before, small scorch marks had be left on the cieling or walls, presumably from her tail, were now long gone.

As the Ninja continued searching, the others were trying to figure out what to do. Theresa and Howard had become separated from Rachel and Julian, and none were sure yet what had happened to Jenna, nor where the Ninja was.

Well, not quite. Julian had dragged Rachel into the gym, then the boys locker room when they realized the monster was getting closer. Pretty soon, they were basically trapped as Jenna grew nearer and nearer. Before, abruptly, she stopped approaching. Merely looked at them from beneath her long bangs, , nostrils flaring to scent the air.

After a long minute of this, they both wondered if she was possibly blind as a monster, and had to scent everything out and now couldn't pinpoint their location in such a small space. Before they could move to try and slip away, Jenna took another step forward and laid on her stomach, head on her paws, watching them. Her tail stilled and all the flames went out, and it curled around her haunches.

After several long moments, Rachel slowly edged closer. "Jenna?" she asked, resisting the urge to flinch when the giant fox lifted it's head, snuffing the air.

"rAcHeL . . ?" the thing grunted, voice warped, but definitely Jenna's.

"Jenna, what's wrong?" she tries. While it may not be known why people turn into monsters, it happened often enough to know that the stank'd person needed to be calmed down.

Jenna whimpered, laying head on paws once more, tears cascading down either side of her muzzle.

Julian slowly edged closer, having been peeking out from behind some lockers. "J-jenna?" he asks, slowly edging closer. "Wh-what's wrong? W-was it the snow?" he asks, staring at the multiple scars, easily seen through the thin fur. Heck, the only long fur was on her tail and her bangs.

Jenna lifted her head slightly, then dropped it on her paws again. A sort of nod. Then again, maybe not. "sNoW . . . pAiN, lOsS, mAnY tHiNgS . . .lOnG aGo, NoT sO lOnG gO . . . " she grunts out in the monster language, just discernible into words.

Both were quiet a long moment, then Julian couldn't help it. "Does it . . . does it have anything to do with that poem you showed us earlier today? Or your . . ." here he gulped. "Or your scars?" he finishes.

She appears to wince, glancing towards them before bodily shifting her head away, laying her tail over her face. Soft sobs shake her shoulders. Rachel, ever the kind spirit, steps closer, laying a light hand on her shoulder. A hitching of breath and slow movement back reveals damp furry cheeks and messy bangs.

" . . .bLoOd, PaIn, KnIvEs, ScArS . . .lOnG gO . . ." she replies, slowly, as if it is difficult to get the words out. " . . .dEeP sNoW, iCy RoAdS, cAr CrAsH . . ." here she ducks her head, hiding it again.

Rachel and Julian are silent. They share horrified glances. Obviously, they didn't have the full story . . . but even these small pieces of the puzzle revealed a lot and explained a lot. Jenna wasn't quite done.

" . . .pArEnTs . . ._GoNe_ . . ." she chokes out, sobbing growing harder. ". . .oNlY pIcTuRe, LoSt . . .OnLy PiCtUrE oF fAmIlY . . . _lOsT_ . . ." she wipes at her muzzle with a paw, wiping at the tears.

Julian edges closer, gently resting a hand on her arm. She looks up at him. She could easily hurt both of them. Both teens are aware of this. But she has made no move to do so, and so far, she seems to be in much better control than other monsters, who seem to completely lose themselves and focus on only one thing. Scarcely can they make understandable speech, and neither has ever heard of a time that they held a conversation, even if the sentences aren't exactly complete ones.

But what can they say to this?

"Stand back!" Jenna leaps to her feet just as Julian and Rachel back up. The Ninja has arrived, sword drawn, ready to fight.

"Ninja, wait!" Rachel shouts, going to move between him and Jenna, who's snarling by now, staring at the sword blade.

Julian follows up, standing next to Rachel. "Yes, do halt this attack! She has done nothing to harm us!"

The Ninja just glances from one to the other, not loosening his posture. "Please, stand aside," he asks, raising the sword higher. "I gotta find a way to de'stank this student here." he finishes, looking up.

Jenna's pupils contract. To her, this other person is about to attack her family. With a growl, she suddenly lunges, grabbing the Ninja by the sword arm. He cries out in surprise, as do Julian and Rachel, whom she had leapt over. Her teeth dig in deep, almost breaking through the suit. With a snarl, she shakes him hard before throwing him across the room with a flick of her head and loosening of her jaws.

Shaking her head and turning towards the other two, who stand/kneel frozen, she barks out, "rUn!?"

It's quickly clear that she merely saw the other as a threat. Julians' eyes widen. He looks down at the Ninja's sword. "Knives . . . Rachel, she said something about knives!" he exclaims in realization. Rachels' eyes widen, too.

"Jenna, he doesn't want to hurt you! Come on!" the peppy girl tries. Jenna almost immediately turns, nudging the two forward until they're by the sinks. By now, the Ninja has recovered, and races forward with a shout, holding his sword high.

Julian darts in the way with a shoiut of "No!" only to cry out and back away, dropping to his knees. The Ninja stares, mouth hanging open in shock. Jenna almost immediately screams, as if she's the one in pain, and lunges, biting hard onto the Ninja around his middle, shook him until his teeth rattled and then some, then flung him away. He smashed into a locker and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Breathing hard, she turned swiftly, whining. Her tail thwacked into the soap dispenser. The ground opened beneath their feet; they plunged downwards with shocked cries.

Down into the Old Gym.

* * *

**So sorry I've been gone so long! Stuff grew crazy, besides the fact that I hit serious writers block. I've found a way through, though. THIS STORY WILL GO ON!**


	12. IMPORTANT - AUTHOR's NOTICE!

IMPORTANT! I'm planing an overhaul rewrite of this story sometime in the near future. I'm not entirely sure when that'll be, but hopefully soon; within the month, at the latest.

If there is ANYTHING you want to see stay the same or change in the rewrite, let me know RIGHT NOW in Reviews or a Pm. I'll only say that, some things are going to inevitably change or remain the same, but feedback is always good! I want to know what YOU GUYS AND GALS want to see.


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